Andrew McCutchen’s MLB Network gig offers an intriguing glimpse at his post-Pirates future

Andrew McCutchen has spent nearly two decades making himself one of baseball’s most recognizable players. His latest October assignment offers a pretty convincing glimpse at what could come next.

McCutchen is joining MLB Network for postseason coverage, stepping into a studio role that feels less like a random guest appearance and more like a natural extension of who he has been throughout his career.

He has always been charismatic and thoughtful, and he has always seemed comfortable as one of the public faces of the sport. Now, with the end of his playing career inevitably getting closer, it is becoming increasingly easy to envision McCutchen remaining prominently involved in baseball long after he plays his final game (if he hasn't already).

McCutchen certainly has the résumé for studio work. He's a former National League MVP, a five-time All-Star, a four-time Silver Slugger winner and one of the defining players of his generation. He has experienced a franchise revival in Pittsburgh, postseason baseball, major injuries, trades, free agency, rebuilding clubs and more than enough change around the sport to speak with authority about almost any situation that comes across a television desk.

For years, Pirates fans have seen the humor, perspective and candor that have made McCutchen such an easy player to root for even beyond what he has accomplished on the field. He has never seemed particularly uncomfortable with attention. He has embraced being an ambassador for the game, whether that has meant speaking about baseball's evolution, interacting with younger players or simply allowing more of his personality to show publicly than many stars do.

Postseason coverage asks former players to do more than explain why a pitcher threw a certain pitch or why a hitter chased a breaking ball. The best analysts can tell stories, explain pressure, identify the small details casual viewers might miss and communicate why a moment feels different when a season is on the line.

McCutchen knows exactly what that feels like. No player is more closely connected to Pittsburgh's last meaningful October era. He was the face of the 2013 team that ended 20 consecutive losing seasons and brought postseason baseball back to PNC Park. He was there for the unforgettable Wild Card win over the Cincinnati Reds and remained at the center of Pirates teams that returned to October in 2014 and 2015.

Thirteen years after Pittsburgh chanted Johnny Cueto's name and watched McCutchen help usher in one of the franchise's most memorable nights, he is now helping a national audience make sense of someone else's postseason run.

Pirates icon Andrew McCutchen

Whether McCutchen has already played his final game or he finds another year or two in his legs, there is little reason to think his connection to baseball will disappear with it.

Broadcasting represents only one possible path. McCutchen could conceivably remain involved with the Pirates, work elsewhere around the league, take on an ambassadorial role or simply pick and choose opportunities that allow him to stay visible around the sport without making it a full-time job. But MLB Network putting him in front of a national postseason audience certainly makes one possibility easier to imagine.

McCutchen has something television networks cannot manufacture: relevance across multiple generations of baseball fans. Pirates fans remember the dreadlocks, the MVP season and those packed October nights at PNC Park. Fans elsewhere remember his years with the Giants, Yankees, Phillies and Brewers. Younger players grew up watching him. Older players competed against him.

And throughout all of it, McCutchen has developed the kind of reputation that should give him credibility the moment he starts talking.

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