Pittsburgh Pirates: Andrew McCutchen and the Chase for Career Milestones

Andrew McCutchen and the chase for more career milestones is on. When could the Pittsburgh Pirates all-time great reach 300 career home runs?

Good things often arrive after a storm.

Pittsburgh Pirates fan favorite Andrew McCutchen is coming off one of the worst hitting months of his career. Throughout the entire month of July, McCutchen did not register a single RBI. For correlation, that is just the third time in Pirate history that a batter has gone an entire month (with at least 70 plate appearances) without producing a single RBI.

Rodolfo Castro, who the Bucs just traded to the Philadelphia Phillies, went through an entire month without an RBI last season in 2022. Before that though, it hadn't happened to a Pittsburgh Pirate since the 1974 season.

Already, McCutchen has an RBI two days into the month of August after he singled home Bryan Reynolds against the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday. He followed that up with another base knock in Thursday's loss against the Brewers. This could be the start of a hot month for Cutch.

McCutchen has enjoyed hitting in the month of August throughout his 15 seasons. In August alone, McCutchen has a batting average of .271 throughout his career. He has also compiled a total of 170 RBIs in August throughout his career. Yet, RBIs are not the only thing on Cutch's radar.

After getting his 2000th hit in June, McCutchen would no doubt love to add to his list of milestones and hit his 300th career home run. It may come even sooner than we think.

McCutchen is currently 4th all-time in home runs hit for the Pittsburgh Pirates, with 213.

McCutchen is just three home runs shy of 300 career home runs. Last season, McCutchen hit four home runs in the month of August and added three more home runs in September/October. McCutchen's most recent home run came on June 30th against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Cutch has quality numbers against the Brewers in his career too. Per StatMuse, McCutchen has a .273 batting average with 173 hits, 37 homers, 101 RBIs, and 89 runs scored in 164 games against the Brewers in his career. Of course, McCutchen also played for the Brewers last season. He racked up 17 home runs in 2022 (10 of which came at American Family Field). It would take a lot for McCutchen to equal or surpass 17 home runs this season, but a red-hot series against the Brew Crew would get him on near pace.

McCutchen already hit his 400 career doubles milestone earlier this year, but one more career milestone that Cutch could hit this season is 50 career triples. Number 22 currently has 49 career triples, and you'd scarcely find a 36-year-old who could run as fast. McCutchen has just one triple in his last three seasons.

If you're wondering who the Pirate all-time leader in triples is, that honor belongs to Honus Wagner, who recorded a whopping 232 triples throughout his illustrious Hall of Fame career. Yet back in Honus' era, hitting triples was far more common than today. In fact, in the 1920s, the average team tripled about once every two games. In the 1930s and 1940s, it dropped to once every three. This trend would continue, and by the early 1980s, it was about once every four. Then over the next three decades, a triple is hit once in every five games.

So, the good news is that Cutch only needs one more triple to get to 50 in his career. The bad news is that triples don't come along so often, especially for players in their mid to upper 30s.

Look for Andrew McCutchen to complete these milestones as we round up the 2023 season. Knowing Cutch, he could reach all of them in just one series.

Good things often arrive after a storm, and in baseball, good things often come in bunches.