The Texas Rangers have recently designated former Pittsburgh Pirates legend Andrew McCutchen for assignment. The Rangers had signed the former superstar to a minor-league contract during Spring Training, and he broke in with the team after the pre-season. With Cutch approaching his 40th birthday in October and struggling badly through 83 plate appearances with the Rangers, the final chapter of his career might be coming to its last pages. If this happens to be the end of the road for McCutchen, where does his career rank all-time in Pirates’ history?
A Look at Andrew McCutchen’s Career Accomplishments
First, let’s look at what McCutchen has accomplished in Major League Baseball. Since 2009, McCutchen has appeared in 2299 games, with 9790 plate appearances. In that time, he has hit .271/.364/.455 with a career 124 OPS+. He has racked up 2280 hits, with 333 home runs, and 220 stolen bases. He has been elected to five All-Star games, won a Gold Glove in 2012, won four-straight Silver Sluggers from 2012 through 2015, and took home the National League MVP award in 2013. Cutch led the league in hits once in 2012 and led the NL in OBP, OPS, OPS+, and bWAR in 2014. His career bWAR comes to 48.5.
As good as McCutchen is, there are some legendary careers that Cutch did not surpass. There is no shame in not having a career as good as Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, and Barry Bonds (if you want to consider his career, given he started it with the Pirates and won two MVP awards). However, there are certainly some Pirates’ Hall of Famers whom McCutchen surpasses.
Post-Integration Players McCutchen Is Just as Good as
In terms of Post-Integration, McCutchen certainly compares favorably to The Cobra and one of baseball’s newest Hall of Famers, Dave Parker. Parker’s career line is very similar to Cutch’s, with a .290/.339/.471 triple-slash, .810 OPS, and 121 OPS+. Parker hit 339 home runs, which is only six more than Cutch has for his career. Although he has more hits with 2712, he also has fewer stolen bases with 154. His career bWAR of 40.1 falls just under McCutchen’s career mark.
Bill Mazeroski is another player McCutchen surpasses. The 1960 World Series hero wasn’t known for his bat, as he compiled just 2,016 hits over 8,379 trips to the plate. He also hit just 138 home runs over part of 17 MLB seasons. His career OPS+ was just 84. Of course, defense was Mazeroski’s calling card. Despite his below-average career offensive production, Maz still racked up 36.7 bWAR.
In terms of cumulative stats, Ralph Kiner has some similarities as well. Kiner had 48 career bWAR with 369 home runs. Of course, Kiner’s career ended prematurely before his age-33 season because of back injuries. Kiner hit 33 more home runs than McCutchen, despite having just 6256 plate appearances, which is 3534 fewer trips to the dish than Cutch.
Pre-Integration Players Andrew McCutchen Is Better Than
Cutch certainly surpasses Hall of Fame third baseman Pie Traynor. Traynor hit .320/.362/.435 over 8,298 plate appearances. Traynor obviously played in a very different era, when home runs were not as much of a focal point as they are in today’s game. However, his career 107 OPS+ is definitely a step below McCutchen’s. He also has about ten fewer bWAR, at 38.7. There are also enough similarities between Hall of Fame Pirates like Jake Beckley, Lloyd Waner, Max Carey, and Fred Clarke to solidify McCutchen’s place over them.
Where Andrew McCutchen Ranks All-Time
McCutchen is certainly among the Pirates’ top ten all-time position players. He’s not surpassing inner-circle Hall of Famers, but that’s a near-impossible bar to surpass to start with. He is certainly above the likes of Mazeroski, Traynor, and many of the pre-integration players, and on par with Parker and the rest of the post-integration players. McCutchen has accomplished so much throughout his MLB career and should be recognized as one of the best in a historic organization.
Main Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
