Andrew McCutchen enters his third season in his return stint with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
His production dropped off a bit in 2024 after some steady success back in Pittsburgh in 2023. This spring, the veteran continues to show encouraging at-bats as he enters his age-38 season.
McCutchen drove in the first run of the day for Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon in an eventual 6-5 loss to the Atlanta Braves. The former National League MVP entered play with a .286 batting average and a .929 OPS this spring. Obviously, that needs to translate to a growing group of position players in the regular season, but McCutchen’s quality at-bats should be encouraging for the Pirates.
McCutchen takes the field for the Pirates this season searching for an upward trend in the 20th anniversary season of when Pittsburgh selected him in the first round of the 2005 MLB Draft.
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Featured image via Kim Klement Neitzel/Imagn Images