Pittsburgh Pirates, Andrew McCutchen Agree to 1-Year Deal for 2024 Season
Cutch will be back in 2024 for season number 11 as a Pirate
It is official - Andrew McCutchen will return to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2024 for his 11th season with the Bucs
This may have been the most predictable move of the offseason for the Pittsburgh Pirates. That said, it is still good to see it be official. For the 2024 season, Andrew McCutchen will once again return to the Pirates on another one-year deal.
Cutch's deal for 2024 will be worth $5 million. This comes after he returned to Pittsburgh in 2023 and proceeded to have his best offensive season since 2019. 2024 will make the 11th season that the all-time Pirate great has spent in Black and Gold.
Last season, McCutchen had 473 plate appearances in 112 games played. He hit for a .256/.378/.397 slash line to go with a .141 isolated slugging (ISO), 115 wRC+, and a 113 OPS+. Cutch's on-base percentage, wRC+, and OPS+ were all his highest since 2019, as was his 15.9% walk rate.
McCutchen 2023 season was cut short due to an Achilles injury he suffered in early September. Due to this, despite getting to 2,000 career hits and 400 doubles last season, he fell just short of the final milestone he was looking to eclipse.
When McCutchen's season ended he was sitting on 299 career home runs. He will now enter the 2024 season looking for his 300th career home run, a milestone he should hit early in the season. Perhaps in the April 5th home opener?
Even though he served primarily as the team's designated hitter in 2023, fans could see more of McCutchen in right field this season. The Pirates wanted to use him in right field more than they did last season but an elbow issue that lingered for much of the season prevented this.
As long as McCutchen can continue to produce the way he did at the plate last season he will once again be a key cog in the Pirate lineup. Also, if that does happen, there is a good chance that next offseason the two sides find themselves in a similar position to this offseason - looking to hammer out another 1-year deal for him to remain a Pirate.