McCutchen among best

By Ron Cook
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
June 24, 2012

Andrew McCutchen #22 of the Pittsburgh Pirates hits a three run home run against the Detroit Tigers in the 4th inning during the game on June 23, 2012 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

(Jared Wickerham/Getty Images North America)

When he played for the Pirates and the San Francisco Giants, Barry Bonds was known as a player who could do whatever he wanted on a ball field. You needed average? Bonds won the batting title in 2002 and '04. A great catch in the outfield? Bonds could run down just about anything. A stolen base? Bonds swiped 52 bases in 1990 and, even at age 33 in '97, had 37 stolen bases. Power? You know how that worked out for Bonds.

After watching the Pirates beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-1, Saturday to move a season-best six games over .500, it was hard not to think in the same terms about Andrew McCutchen. You want average? McCutchen is hitting .345, fifth best in the National League. A great catch? McCutchen went a long way to routinely grab a fly ball at the left-center field wall hit by the Tigers' Jhonny Peralta with a runner on third and two outs in the seventh inning. A stolen base? McCutchen has been successful on nine of his past 10 stolen-base attempts and has 14 steals for the season. Power? McCutchen hit his 13th home run Saturday in the fourth, a three-run beauty that gave the Pirates a 3-0 lead.

Yes, McCutchen is a young player, only 25, in just his third full big-league season. But it's not too soon to suggest he has a real chance to be the Pirates' best player since Bonds.

"He's a superstar -- for me -- already," Tigers manager Jim Leyland was saying Saturday night.
Leyland managed Bonds with the Pirates from 1986-92. He seemed like the right guy to ask if there's any way McCutchen's name belongs in the same sentence with Bonds. Leyland wasn't interested in comparisons. He won't compare anyone to Bonds, whom he has called the best player of his lifetime. But he readily agreed there is nothing McCutchen can't do on a ball field.

"I don't know [McCutchen], but it seems to me like he has a more steady approach than Barry," Leyland said. "Barry would go a few games without a home run and think, 'I've got to hit some.' So he would change approach and hit some home runs, but his average would go from .320 to .280. I always told him, 'The home runs aren't going to come when you try to hit home runs. They'll come when you try to get hits. You'll square the ball enough that the home runs will come.'

"It looks to me as if [McCutchen's] presence and approach doesn't change. I never see him act differently, whether he hits a home run or strikes out. I don't see a lot of wasted emotion there. I think that's real good for a young player."


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