ANDREW McCUTCHEN

10/10/86; '05 1st; Fort Meade, FL (HS)
R/R; 5-11, 175

Level
BA
OBP
SA
AB
2B
3B
HR
BB
K
SB
CS
2005 HS
.709
 
1.836
55
8
3
16
 
 
16
 
2005 A-
.346
.443
.442
52
3
1
0
8
6
4
1
2005 R
.297
.411
.430
158
9
3
2
29
24
13
1
2006 AA
.308
.379
.474
78
4
0
3
8
20
1
1
2006 A
.291
.356
.446
453
20
4
14
42
91
22
7
2007 AAA
.313
.347
.418
67
4
0
1
4
11
4
3
2007 AA
.258
.327
.383
446
20
3
10
44
83
17
1
2008 AAA
.283
.372
.398
512
26
3
9
68
87
34
19

McCutchen is the Pirates' best prospect and their only real impact prospect unless they can get their problems with Pedro Alvarez straightened out or Jose Tabata's post-trade hitting spree turns out to be for real. After several years of hype, though, he has yet to translate his abilities into the kind of performance the Pirates have hoped for.

McCutchen was considered one of the strongest tools players in the 2005 draft. He combined great speed and the potential of becoming an outstanding defensive centerfielder with good bat speed and very good pitch recognition. When he was drafted, the two main reservations were his ability to hit for power and the fact that he faced weak competition in HS. In the GCL, he generally hit well and showed outstanding plate discipline, which is both highly unusual for a Pirate draftee and surprising given the fact that he reportedly had little coaching in HS. The Pirates promoted him to Williamsport late in the year and he hit consistently well there while continuing to control the strike zone. BA chose him as the top prospect in the GCL and said he would have ranked as high, or nearly so, in the NY-Penn League had he played enough there to qualify.

McCutchen opened 2006 at Hickory and had an impressive season for a 19-year-old, earning a unanimous nod from the league's scouts and managers as the top SAL prospect. He got off to a fast start, hitting .344 in April, but he slumped to .262 in May and .202 in June. He also was fanning a lot: 49 times in 197 ABs in those two months. According to the Pirates and McCutchen himself, he got impatient when the pitchers didn't throw him strikes. He rebounded to hit .331 in July and August. He wore out LHPs, with an OPS just a little under 1.000 against them. He attempted to steal sparingly at first, but more often as the season went along. He finished the season with a surprise late-season promotion to Altoona, where he got into the playoffs.

The Pirates' original plan was to start McCutchen at Lynchburg in 2007, but his showing in AA and an impressive spring led them to start him at Altoona. That didn't work out well. He went hitless in his first four games and struggled thoughout the first month just to reach the Mendoza line. From there he continued to struggle, but he slowly improved, hitting for a higher average each month. His power and plate discipline came and went. For example, he hit for good power in May but fanned in a quarter of his ABs. In June the power disappeared. In August he seemed to be putting it all together, hitting over .300 with four of his ten AA HRs in the first half of the month. At that point the Pirates promoted him to AAA. Given that he was just getting fully adjusted to AA, the move seemed premature and possibly motivated by increasing signs that GM Dave Littlefield's job was in jeopardy in part because of a deteriorating farm system. McCutchen did well, however, in his brief AAA trial. Much of his trouble came from the same source as in 2006: he got impatient and chased too many pitches out of the strike zone. RHPs especially victimized him with breaking balls away, resulting in a severe platoon split at both levels. Despite his struggles, though, Baseball America rated him the Eastern League's second best prospect.

McCutchen raised hopes to new heights when he got off to a fast start in AAA in 2008. He hit five HRs in April, slugged .510 and had as many walks as he did strikeouts. The power didn't last, though, and he hit only four HRs the rest of the way and finished with a slugging average below .400. His plate discipline remained good throughout the season, though, and he reduced his platoon split, posting a .742 OPS against RHPs and .836 against LHPs, so he seems to be making progress against his main nemesis, the slider. His base stealing skills obviously need a lot of work, although for some reason 2008 was the first season in which he was allowed to run a lot. It's possible that McCutchen won't be more than a speedy leadoff type, which wouldn't be such a bad thing. He has very good range in CF, although his arm is average at best. At 21, he was still young for AAA, so it wouldn't be a good idea to dismiss the possibility of him still improving significantly.

McCutchen figures to return to AAA in 2009, although he'll probably get a chance to win a job in spring training. He wasn't called up in September, possibly because of his mediocre season and possibly because the team didn't want to make an unnecessary roster move. McCutchen won't be ready for the Rule 5 draft until after the 2009 season, but he'll almost certainty reach the majors before then.

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