MVP chants for McCutchen becoming louder
The chants are becoming lounger and louder for Andrew McCutchen with each passing game at PNC Park.
“M-V-P!” “M-V-P!”
The Pirates center fielder is a strong candidate to win National League Most Valuable Player. He is the best player on a team that has clinched its first winning season since 1992 and also seems certain to reach the postseason for the first time since that same year.
McCutchen went into Friday night’s game against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park hitting .326 with 19 home runs, 79 RBI, 27 stolen bases, a .406 on-base percentage and a .520 slugging percentage. It’s an impressive array of numbers across the board.
McCutchen has also made a concerted effort to improve his all-round game this season. He is taking better routes to balls in center field, improved the accuracy of his throwing and reduced his number of baserunning mistakes.
Despite being just 26, he handles being the face of the franchise with aplomb. He is good with the fans, avails himself to the media and is involved in numerous charitable causes.
It’s still too early to declare an MVP with two weeks left in the season, but McCutchen’s candidacy as strong as anyone’s, including Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw, St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina and Atlanta first baseman Freddie Freeman, among others.
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The Pirates are going to have some interesting roster decisions to make if they get to the postseason, including who will be the fourth starter beyond left-hander Francisco Liriano and right-handers A.J. Burnett and Charlie Morton. With so many off days built into the October schedule, teams almost never use five starters in the playoffs.
In a perfect world, left-hander Jeff Locke would be the No. 4 starter.
His outing Thursday night was encouraging as he ended an eight-start winless streak by holding the Chicago Cubs to one run and three hits in seven innings.
The Pirates would prefer to use rookie right-hander Gerrit Cole in one-inning relief stints in October. He has pitched a combined 166 1/3 innings between the Pirates and Class AAA Indianapolis in his second professional season and the Pirates fear he will be at risk for injury if he adds much more to that total.
While left-hander Wandy Rodriguez was stretched out to five innings in his simulated game on Thursday, the Pirates don’t feel comfort relying on someone in the postseason who has been on the disabled list since June 6 with tightness in his left forearm. There are some in the organization who question Rodriguez’s competitiveness.
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Should the Pirates get into the postseason they will certainly be the sentimental favorite.
If I had a dollar for every time someone — either inside or outside the game — has said this season this season that “I’m so happy to see the Pirates doing well,” I would have enough money to buy one of those $190 bleacher seats for a World Series game at PNC Park.
Nothing like making sure the common man can go attend a World Series game.