Andrew

McCutchen

It was vintage McCutchen on Tuesday night as the 38-year-old enjoyed a solid day at the plate to lead Pittsburgh to a win. He took José Soriano deep for a three-run blast in the fourth inning, then singled to lead off the sixth and drew a walk in the eighth. McCutchen is batting .246/.348/.404 with two homers and nine RBI across 66 plate appearances.

It’s bizarre that both times Cruz has been rested, it’s been against a right-hander. The Pirates could have DH’d him instead of sitting him, but that spot will be taken by a limited Bryan Reynolds. With Jack Suwinski in center, Andrew McCutchen is making his third start of the year in right field today. That’s one more outfield start than he made all of last year.

It’s Reynolds’ first day off this season after starting 10 straight contests between right field and DH as he continues to play through lingering right triceps soreness. The 30-year-old has been ice-cold so far at the dish, batting .182 (8-for-44) with one homer and one steal in 47 plate appearances. It’ll be Alexander Canario in right field and Andrew McCutchen at DH on Monday night.

Right field, specifically. Because Reynolds is trying to play through the injury, McCutchen, who is quite the liability in the outfield these days, was out of the lineup for Pittsburgh’s previous three games. It might be best for everyone if Reynolds just took a seat and tried to heal up, since he hasn’t helped while slugging .226 in 33 plate appearances.

That’s five straight starts for Suwinski, and it feels clear that he is a regular starter, with Andrew McCutchen filling more of a part-time role against right-handed pitching. However, this could also be the Pirates just giving Suwinski an early opportunity to prove he belongs on the MLB roster. After a strong spring training, Suwinski has gone 2-for-15 with six strikeouts and two walks in his first four games.

The Pirates likely are better off using Jack Suwinski over McCutchen against righties, especially since it means improving the outfield defense. (Bryan Reynolds is DHing for the second time in three days.) Still, it’s surprising they’re doing it often already. McCutchen didn’t look great this spring, but he has four hard-hit balls and a couple of walks in 13 plate appearances thus far.

He also struck out twice, but his homer was a well-struck 103.4 mph shot off of Max Meyer. The 38-year-old has traded contact for power over the last couple of seasons, so the loud contact is not a surprise, but his poor batting average and mediocre team context limit his fantasy appeal.

As the farewell tour enters year three, it’s pretty obvious that the Pirates could do better at DH than McCutchen without even spending much more money, if only the team was about winning in the first place. It’s not that McCutchen is abysmal, at least not yet. He managed a 112 OPS+ in 2023 and a 105 OPS+ at age 37 last season. Still, he had easily the highest strikeout rate of his career last year, and he’s struggling to hold up physically even as a DH. Things could come crashing down this season.

The 38-year-old is putting off retirement and coming back for his third year in a row with the Pirates and his 12th year with them overall. McCutchen had one of his best years from a power perspective in 2024, hitting 20 home runs with a career-high 11.7 percent barrel rate. His swinging strike rate is up and zone contact rate is down as he’s traded those for a bit more power, so it’s hard to see him hitting over .240 with that approach. His fantasy value is also hampered by being a UTIL-only player, but he will likely produce some solid weeks of offense for fantasy managers in deeper formats.

This appears to be a consequence of the Pirates wanting to give Bryan Reynolds a partial day off as a DH and also find another start for Billy Cook. McCutchen, who hit his 20th homer last night, isn’t currently an outfield option after a series of minor to moderate leg injuries the last couple of months.