DANIEL McCUTCHEN

9/26/82; '06 13th (New York Yankees); Univ. of Oklahoma
R/R; 6-2, 195


Level
W-L-Sv
G
GS
IP
H
 HR
BB
K
 BB/9
K/9
WHIP
OAVG
ERA
2006 A (NYY)
1-0-1
7
0
21.0
13
 2
5
18
 2.1
7.7
0.86
.186
2.14
2006 A- (NYY)
1-0-0
2
2
9.0
5
 2
1
12
 1.0
12.0
0.67
.148
2.00
2007 AA (NYY)
3-2-0
7
7
41.0
30
 2
12
36
 2.6
7.9
1.02
.205
2.41
2007 A+ (NYY)
11-2-0
17
16
101.0
86
 7
21
67
 1.9
6.0
1.06
.236
2.50
2008 AAA
3-3-0
8
8
48.0
49
 12
7
41
 1.3
7.7
1.17
.261
4.69
2008 AAA (NYY)
4-6-0
11
11
70.1
73
 10
11
58
 1.4
7.4
1.19
.265
3.58
2008 AA (NYY)
4-3-0
9
9
53.0
43
4
18
52
3.1
8.8
1.15
.219
2.55
2009 NL
1-2-0
6
6
36.1
38
6
11
19
2.7
4.7
1.35
.271
4.21
2009 AAA
13-6-0
24
24
142.2
145
10
29
110
1.8
6.9
1.22
.264
3.47

The Pirates acquired McCutchen, Jeff Karstens, Ross Ohlendorf and Jose Tabata from the Yankees for Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte. The deal originally included Phil Coke and George Kontos instead of McCutchen and Karstens, but the teams agreed to include the latter two after the initial announcement.

McCutchen started his pro career inauspiciously, with a 50-game banned-substance suspension. He blamed it on a prescription drug he took for Attention Deficit Disorder in college and the Yankees reportedly believed him. He moved very quickly through the Yankees' system after that. Baseball America characterizes him as a very aggressive pitcher who throws a four-seam fastball in the low 90s and a two-seamer slightly slower than that, with his best pitch being a curve. He also throws an improving changeup. His aggressiveness has resulted in low walk totals and his K rates have generally been good. BA ranked him the 14th best prospect in a pitching-rich system going into 2008 and he probably didn't hurt his stock any while still with the Yankees. I could be wrong, but judging from the way the Pirates have talked about the three pitchers they acquired, they don't seem to regard McCutchen quite as highly as the Yankees did, although they undoubtedly like him. With Indianapolis his performance was uneven. His BB and K numbers were outstanding, but he developed a serious gopher ball problem. He may be getting too many pitches over the plate. He was not called up in September as he did not have to be added to the 40-man roster until after the 2009 season.

McCutchen stayed in the Indianapolis rotation throughout the 2009 AAA season.  He seemed to be going nowhere for the first half of the season, as he posted a 4.37 ERA before the AAA All-Star break.  After the break, however, he cut his walks and homers to the minimum and went 5-1, 1.90 in eight starts.  For the season he made great strides with his gopher ball problem.  He is not a groundball pitcher; for the AAA season, his GO/AO ratio was 0.67.  The Pirates added him to their rotation, and obviously to the 40-man roster, in September and he pitched respectably.  The gopher ball problem returned and was his primary weakness in the majors.  He continued to throw strikes and didn't allow that many hits, so his WHIP was quite respectable for a pitcher in his major league debut, albeit against September lineups.  The K rate, in AAA or the majors, shows he lacks dominating stuff.  He had a moderate reverse platoon split at both levels.  He earned a shot at the 5th spot in the Pirates' rotation next spring, as he dramatically outpitched Kevin Hart.

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