Pittsburgh Pirates: Constructing the Franchise’s All-Offense Line Up
By Noah Wright
Center Field Andrew McCutchen
Andrew McCutchen had an outstanding, and extremely memorable run as the Pirates’ primary center fielder. From taking over the position in 2010 up until his final year in a Pirate uniform in 2017, Cutch batted for a .291/.379/.487 line, hit 203 home runs, and finished out with a 136 OPS+/137 wRC+.
Among Pirates’ center fielders with at least 2500 plate appearances McCutchen leads them all in wRC+, OPS, slugging percentage, on base percentage, and wOBA (.373).
From 2012 to 2015, McCutchen absolutely dominated pitchers. Throughout the 2680 plate appearances in these four seasons, Cutch hit .313/.404/.523 with 100 home runs, 76 stolen bases, and a 157 OPS+/wRC+ plus he finished top-5 in MVP voting three straight seasons in a row from 2013 to 2015. Among all MLB players during those seasons, Cutch ranked 7th in OPS, 4th in wRC+, and 5th in wOBA (.397). Among outfielders, only Mike Trout was better than him in wRC+.
During this terrific four year stretch, McCutchen put together arguably the greatest offensive season in Pirate history. This came in 2014 when he hit for a .314/.410/.542 slash line to go with a 168 wRC+, .228 ISO and posting a 51.3 oWAR. Most impressively, all of this came in just 146 games after missing two weeks in August with a rib issue.