Andrew McCutchen
From BR Bullpen
Andrew Stefan McCutchen
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 5' 11", Weight 175 lb.
- High School Fort Meade High School
- Born October 10, 1986 in Fort Meade, FL USA
[edit] Biographical Information
Andrew McCutchen was a Baseball America first-team All-American in his senior year of high school, during which he batted .709, slugged a whopping 1.836 and stole 16 bases. In the 2004 World Junior Championship, he hit only .133 as the Team USA center fielder though his six runs were second on the team to Justin Upton. Picked by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the 11th overall pick of the 2005 amateur draft, McCutchen signed for $1,950,000.
Andrew began his professional career that season with the GCL Pirates and hit .297/.411/.430 with 13 steals in 14 tries. Moving up to the Williamsport Crosscutters, he batted .346/.443/.442 in 13 games. He led Gulf Coast League outfielders with four double plays and Baseball America rated him as the league's top prospect. He hit .293/.358/.449 for the 2006 Hickory Crawdads with 22 steals in 29 tries and got called up to the Altoona Curve when Vic Buttler was promoted to AAA. McCutchen became the youngest player in the history of the Curve and went on to hit .308/.379/.474 in 20 games with the club. His 17 total homers showed excellent power for a player his age. Baseball America named him the top prospect in the South Atlantic League in a rare unanimous consensus of scouts and managers. He also was named the Pirates minor league player of the year.
McCutchen impressed Pirates management in spring training of 2007, hitting well and showing a great glove in Grapefruit League play. He started 2007 slowly, though, hitting under .200 for over a month. Initially, the woes were blamed on the cold temperatures McCutchen had never faced before, but they continued through May. He recovered as the year progressed to push his batting line to .258/.327/.383 by mid-August; one positive was 17 steals in 18 tries. Despite having not yet solved AA, McCutchen was promoted to the AAA Indianapolis Indians alongside fellow first-rounder Neil Walker with a couple weeks left in the season. McCutchen hit .313/.347/.418 in 17 games for Indianapolis in 2007.
McCutchen opened 2008 with Indianapolis and was batting .282/.371/.405 with 24 steals in 39 tries after 92 games. That earned him selection to the 2008 Futures Game. Playing left field for the USA and hitting leadoff, Andrew popped up against Carlos Carrasco in the first and flew out facing Hector Rondon in the third. The announcers misidentified him both times - they claimed he was Greg Golson in the first and Dexter Fowler in the third. Golson replaced McCutchen in left. He finished the year with a batting line of .283/.372/.398 for the Indians with 34 steals in 53 tries. He led the International League in times caught stealing. Baseball America rated him as the IL's #2 prospect after Jay Bruce and called him the league's most exciting player.
Andrew also started 2009 with Indianapolis, hitting .303/.361/.493 with 8 triples and 41 runs after 49 games, with 10 steals in 12 tries. When Pittsburgh traded away Nate McLouth, McCutchen was called up to the big leagues. He had an excellent debut, going 2 for 4 with a walk, steal, RBI and 3 runs. After 14 games, he was hitting a solid .323/.373/.476. On July 31, McCutchen became the first Pirate rookie ever to hit 3 home runs in a game.
Sources: 2006 Baseball Guide, Minorleaguebaseball.com
