June 15th, 2024
Manny Randhawa
@MannyOnMLBDENVER -- When Pirates manager Derek Shelton was told what Andrew McCutchen had done in Pittsburgh’s 5-2 victory over the Rockies at Coors Field on Friday, he just smiled and shook his head.
“We’re gonna be hearing about that now,” Shelton said.
A few minutes later, as reporters spoke with the 37-year-old McCutchen, a Pirates icon who is in his second stint and 11th season with the club, Shelton walked by his locker and gave him a knowing smile.
“Your longest home run in the Statcast era,” he said, now looking back over his shoulder. “We’re not gonna hear about that?”
McCutchen grinned.
“What can I say?” he replied. “I could hit it further, too, if I wanted.”
Behind that expression and that statement was a ballplayer that still has it -- that special spark that never leaves the few who possess it, but perhaps emerges less frequently than it used to.
The spark made an appearance Friday when the barrel of McCutchen’s bat connected with a Ryan Feltner fastball for a 448-foot home run to center field in the sixth inning. The solo shot gave the Bucs a 2-1 lead and opened the gates for a lineup that had only managed four hits to that point.
The homer was also the longest McCutchen has hit since Statcast began tracking nine years ago. His previous long was 447 feet on July 9, 2015. Yes, this one came in the hitter-friendly altitude of Denver. But it also came nearly a decade after he clubbed what had been his longest to that point.
“[The key has been] just keeping my body in a good place physically,” said McCutchen, who got off to a slow start at the plate this season, but rebounded with a strong May. “If I’m able to do that and have my legs under me, then I’m able to play the game the way that I know I can.”
For a five-time All-Star and a former National League MVP, having McCutchen play the way he knows he can -- even at his age -- could go a long way for the Pirates, much like the missile he sent over the center field 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 Field this year.
The distinction would be short-lived, but McCutchen surely doesn’t mind since it was a teammate who bested him an inning later.
Jack Suwinski smashed a mammoth two-run blast for good measure in the seventh. It was Suwinski’s fourth career home run at Coors Field, coming in his ninth at-bat in the venue. The ball traveled a projected 459 feet, just two feet shy of the monster shot he hit here last year.
It was a banner day for the Bucs hitting the long ball -- along with Bryan Reynolds’ 432-foot solo shot to get Pittsburgh on the board in the first, the three Pirates homers on Friday were among the top 10 longest at Coors Field this season.
Reynolds’ was the first of the night -- extending his hitting streak to 12 games -- and Suwinski’s was the longest, but McCutchen’s was the critical bridge in between, jumpstarting the Bucs’ bats.
The Pirates’ elder statesman has become a mentor to the young players on Pittsburgh’s roster. But if he can more often be the McCutchen of May 11-June 2, when he posted a .968 OPS with five homers, he could be much more.
“I went through these past couple weeks a little shaky,” he said. “But I have my reasons for that … a little mechanical stuff, fighting through some stuff. But I just try not to overthink it. Just build off what you did today.”
McCutchen said that he’s trying to help the young Bucs build, too, something he’s been doing since rejoining the club in 2023. The clock is ticking for one of the Pirates’ all-time greats. He wants to win it all before it’s all said and done, and he wants to do it in Pittsburgh.
He sees this group, still hovering just below the .500 mark, as one with similarities to the successful Pirates teams of his youth. He said the key will be to play well not just against good teams -- Pittsburgh has taken series from the Braves, Dodgers and Orioles, but have lost them to the Angels, A’s and Mets.
Whatever the near future holds for McCutchen and the Pirates, one thing seems certain, and we were reminded of that Friday: Cutch still has it.
