Andrew McCutchen

Lore & Background

When McCutchen first appeared in a Pirates uniform at PNC Park, the club was still shaking off the long shadow of the 2013-less years. He arrived as a 22-year-old with a base-stealing stride that made center field feel like a sprint track, and within a single season he had earned the NL Rookie of the Year award, cementing the idea that Pittsburgh's outfield was no longer a liability but a weapon. The 'Bucs' moniker — a playful nod to the city's riverboat history — stuck to him and to the young core around him: Starling Marte, Pedro Alvarez, Josh Harrison, and the pitching staff that carried them into October.

The 2013 season remains the high-water mark. McCutchen hit for the cycle in August, a feat that electrified the river city, and in the postseason he was the engine of a team that toppled the St. Louis Cardinals in the one-game Wild Card tiebreaker before falling in the NLDS. That run, however brief, gave a generation of fans a memory they still retell with the same giddy disbelief. McCutchen's 2014 All-Star selection and his continued production through the mid-2010s kept the Bucs identity alive even as the roster churned around him.

By 2019, the Pirates had moved into a rebuilding phase, and McCutchen's departure — first to Chicago, then Detroit — marked the closing of an era. Fans still reference 'the McCutchen years' the way older generations reference the 1979 World Series run: a period when the team felt young, fast, and unapologetically Pittsburgh.

In Their Own Story

The August night at PNC Park. The scoreboard reads 2013, and the river air carries the smell of cut grass and popcorn. McCutchen jogs to the on-deck circle, chalk dust on his forearms, the crowd noise a low hum that swells every time he taps the bat. He steps into the box, and for a few heartbeats the whole ballpark holds its breath. The crack of the bat, the sprint, the tag at second — and then the roar. He points to the dugout, to the fans in the upper deck, to the city beyond the outfield wall. The Bucs are alive, and the night belongs to them.

Reader's Guide

2005–2009: The Pirates, still rebuilding after the 2002 World Series, select a rangy outfielder in the third round of the draft. He grinds through the minors, learning to blend his speed with emerging power, and debuts in 2009 as a bench player who steals bases for fun. The team is mid-rebuild, and he is the future they are quietly assembling.

2010–2013: McCutchen explodes into stardom. The 2010 Rookie of the Year award announces him to the league; the 2013 season is the crescendo. He hits for the cycle, the Bucs core clicks, and in October they beat St. Louis in the Wild Card game before the Cardinals end the run in the NLDS. The city still talks about that single-game thriller.

2014–2019: Another All-Star nod, a couple of strong seasons, then the slow rebuild around him. He stays loyal through the roster turnover, and when he leaves after 2019, the Bucs era officially closes. His #7 hangs in the rafters of fan memory, a reminder that Pittsburgh had a center fielder who could do it all.

Did You Know?

• McCutchen hit for the cycle in August 2013, one of the rarest feats in MLB, and PNC Park erupted as though it were a World Series moment.
• He was the 2010 National League Rookie of the Year, winning the award in his first full season in the big leagues.
• The 2013 NL Wild Card Game — a single elimination contest against the Cardinals — is one of the most memorable one-game playoffs in Pirates history, and McCutchen was its centerpiece.
• He was drafted in the third round of the 2005 MLB Draft, a pick that many at the time considered a steal for the Pirates' front office.