Andrew McCutchen Has Been Clutch

Pirates rookie centerfielder Andrew McCutchen  is an offensive numbers generating sensation. A strong Rookie of the Year candidate, he is hitting 357 with RISP to lead the Pirates.  I think he is better than an AllStar poised for St.Louis next week.  Yeh, I know he has only 32 starts.  In his last seven games,  he is 10 or 28 with four doubles, three RBI and five runs scored.  When he gets on base he GENERATES the action for the Pirates offense.  And the kid has 21RBI, helping the Pirates to lead the league in RBI from the leadoff spot.   The bigger number is he has been on base 27 times in the first 32 games of his career. Unreal

Cutch in a very small sample size at Fangraphs has shown the ability to display some plate discipline  early in his career.  Take a quick peek:  25% of the time he swings at pitches outside the strike zone.  69% of the time he makes contact with pitches outside the zone and 86% of the time he makes contact with the ball when swinging at pitches inside the zone.  I found this to be interesting as well, 56% of the time McCutchen is facing a no balls 1 strike count after the first pitch.  Major League average for 2005-2008 was 59%.

A lot of numbers, but I will break it down.  He belongs.  Twenty percent of the balls he puts into play are line drives.  He is confident both at the plate and on the basepaths going six-for-six in stolen base attempts.  How many of his hits are infield singles?

I hated to see him go down on strikes (looking) last night against the right hander Moehler.  But he was calm about it.  He didn’t say a word.  He didn’t need to as he felt the ball was inside.

Against right handed pitchers he is hitting 324 while going 9 for 35(257) against lefties.  He has started all 32 games for the Pirates since getting the call on June 4. 

He is playing like a $4 million dollar player this year according to FanGraphs detailed analysis. 

http://sportsbybrooks.com/bj-upton-philadelphia-fans-are-just-unbearable-22059

BJ Upton, the Steelers fan, is an All Star and Cutch isn’t?

All Star Upton.  240BA, 324OBP, 409SLG, 733OPS, 2Triples, 32RBI

McCutchen       299BA, 356OBP, 446SLG, 802OPS, 5Triples, 21RBI