Andrew McCutchen sends message to Pirates in response to Royals stadium changes

Though it didn't grab the headlines that the signings of Alex Bregman or Kyle Tucker did, Kauffman Stadium is undergoing some serious changes in 2026. The Kansas City Royals are bringing in the fences of their home field in an effort to coax more offense out of their lineup.

That's an understandable decision after watching their pitching staff shoulder much of the burden in 2025, but Kauffman ranked tied for sixth with a 101 park factor, per Baseball Savant. That's very close to the league average of 100, but it does mean the Royals' stadium was slightly more favorable to hitters than the league-average park.

Meanwhile, PNC Park finished with a 99 park factor last year. That two-point difference may not sound huge, but it was the difference between the Royals' tied-for-sixth finish and the Pirates' tied-for-19th placement.

So, should the Pittsburgh Pirates adjust the dimensions of PNC? One franchise legend certainly seems to think so.

In response to the report on the Kauffman Stadium changes from ESPN's Jeff Passan, Andrew McCutchen replied on X, "PNC Park take notes."

Pirates could be tempted to follow Royals' lead with stadium changes

The Royals' offense — which finished 26th in home runs (159) and 22nd in wRC+ (93) — did struggle in 2025 and certainly needed a boost. But those numbers were nothing compared to the Pirates' incompetency in the batter's box.

Pittsburgh finished last season last in home runs by a country mile (117) and second-to-last in wRC+ (82). As a reminder, wRC+ standardizes for stadiums, so they can't even blame PNC's spacious dimensions for those struggles.

The team has gone to many lengths to improving that unit this offseason, adding Brandon Lowe, Jhostynxon Garcia, and Ryan O'Hearn in various signings and trades. Still, with a left-center field alley that's 410 feet from home plate and a right field wall that stands 21 feet tall, there are some genuine reasons to believe that a slight adjustment could boost the Bucs' offensive output.

Of course, the counterargument to all of this is that the Pirates are built around an electric group of arms headlined by Paul Skenes, Bubba Chandler, and (when healthy) Jared Jones. Moving the walls in would, in theory, help boost the offense's numbers, but it would also hurt the pitching staff. Is that a worthwhile tradeoff to make?

Cutch certainly thinks so, but he may be a bit biased having covered so much of PNC's spacious outfield grass throughout his career. Odds are, if you asked for Skenes' thoughts on the topic, he'd be just fine with the park's dimensions.