DENVER — When Pirates supervisor Derek Shelton was instructed what Andrew McCutchen had performed in Pittsburgh’s 5-2 victory over the Rockies at Coors Discipline on Friday, he simply smiled and shook his head.
“We’re gonna be listening to about that now,” Shelton mentioned.
A couple of minutes later, as reporters spoke with the 37-year-old McCutchen, a Pirates icon who’s in his second stint and eleventh season with the membership, Shelton walked by his locker and gave him a figuring out smile.
“Your longest house run within the Statcast period,” he mentioned, now wanting again over his shoulder. “We’re not gonna hear about that?”
“What can I say?” he replied. “I may hit it additional, too, if I wished.”
Behind that expression and that assertion was a ballplayer that also has it — that particular spark that by no means leaves the few who possess it, however maybe emerges much less ceaselessly than it used to.
The spark made an look Friday when the barrel of McCutchen’s bat linked with a Ryan Feltner fastball for a 448-foot house run to heart discipline within the sixth inning. The solo shot gave the Bucs a 2-1 lead and opened the gates for a lineup that had solely managed 4 hits to that time.
The homer was additionally the longest McCutchen has hit since Statcast started monitoring 9 years in the past. His earlier lengthy was 447 toes on July 9, 2015. Sure, this one got here within the hitter-friendly altitude of Denver. Nevertheless it additionally got here almost a decade after he clubbed what had been his longest to that time.
“[The key has been] simply retaining my physique in a superb place bodily,” mentioned McCutchen, who received off to a gradual begin on the plate this season, however rebounded with a robust Could. “If I’m ready to try this and have my legs beneath me, then I’m in a position to play the sport the way in which that I do know I can.”
For a five-time All-Star and a former Nationwide League MVP, having McCutchen play the way in which he is aware of he can — even at his age — may go a great distance for the Pirates, very like the missile he despatched over the middle discipline wall on Friday. That homer tied him with the Reds’ Elly De La Cruz and the Rockies’ Hunter Goodman for the longest hit at Coors Discipline this 12 months.
The excellence can be short-lived, however McCutchen absolutely doesn’t thoughts because it was a teammate who bested him an inning later.
Jack Suwinski smashed a mammoth two-run blast for good measure within the seventh. It was Suwinski’s fourth profession house run at Coors Discipline, coming in his ninth at-bat within the venue. The ball traveled a projected 459 toes, simply two toes shy of the monster shot he hit right here final 12 months.
It was a banner day for the Bucs hitting the lengthy ball — together with Bryan Reynolds’ 432-foot solo shot to get Pittsburgh on the board within the first, the three Pirates homers on Friday had been among the many high 10 longest at Coors Discipline this season.
Reynolds’ was the primary of the evening — extending his hitting streak to 12 video games — and Suwinski’s was the longest, however McCutchen’s was the vital bridge in between, jumpstarting the Bucs’ bats.
The Pirates’ elder statesman has develop into a mentor to the younger gamers on Pittsburgh’s roster. But when he can extra typically be the McCutchen of Could 11-June 2, when he posted a .968 OPS with 5 homers, he might be rather more.
“I went via these previous couple weeks just a little shaky,” he mentioned. “However I’ve my causes for that … just a little mechanical stuff, combating via some stuff. However I simply strive to not overthink it. Simply construct off what you probably did at this time.”
McCutchen mentioned that he’s making an attempt to assist the younger Bucs construct, too, one thing he’s been doing since rejoining the membership in 2023. The clock is ticking for one of many Pirates’ all-time greats. He desires to win all of it earlier than it’s all mentioned and performed, and he desires to do it in Pittsburgh.
He sees this group, nonetheless hovering just under the .500 mark, as one with similarities to the profitable Pirates groups of his youth. He mentioned the important thing will likely be to play nicely not simply in opposition to good groups — Pittsburgh has taken sequence from the Braves, Dodgers and Orioles, however have misplaced them to the Angels, A’s and Mets.
Regardless of the close to future holds for McCutchen and the Pirates, one factor appears sure, and we had been reminded of that Friday: Cutch nonetheless has it.
