Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette Andrew McCutcheon got an invitation from the Pirates to attend spring training one year earlier than his contract stipulated. Click photo for larger image.

It is no big deal for first-round draft picks in Major League Baseball to get invited to the big-league camp in spring training the year after they sign. It happens fairly regularly. When it does, though, it usually comes courtesy of a clause written into their contracts requiring teams to do so.

Center fielder Andrew McCutchen, the Pirates' top pick last summer, had such a clause included in his deal, but it was not supposed to kick in until 2007.

Which explains why he was plenty surprised last week to get a letter from the team inviting him this year.

"I'm very excited about it," he said from his home in Florida. "It's really an honor to have that happen in your first spring training. To be able to be out there with the big guys ... it's just great."

He said he was told there were two reasons for the invitation: One was his impressive professional debut last year. The other was that new manager Jim Tracy wants to get a closer look at the top talent in the system in his first spring training.

"That's the best part of all," McCutchen said. "Just knowing that my performance had something to do with it and that the manager wants to see you for himself."

"Andrew McCutchen is coming into the main camp because he's a good player," said Brian Graham, the Pirates' director of player development. "This can be a great experience for him."

McCutchen, 19, was drafted out of high school and was named top prospect in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League last season. In 45 games as Bradenton's leadoff man, he batted .297 with 9 doubles, 3 triples, 2 home runs and 30 RBIs in 158 at-bats. He also posted a sterling .411 on-base percentage -- thanks largely to 29 walks and only 24 strikeouts -- and stole 13 bases in 14 tries.

The Pirates promoted McCutchen late in the season to Williamsport of the New York-Penn League, and he fared even better in those 13 games. Still at leadoff, he batted .346 with three doubles, a triple and five RBIs in 52 at-bats. His on-base percentage rose to .443, and he stole four of five bases.

Graham has a history of promoting prospects between minor-league levels only when they clearly are ready, so McCutchen's unusual invitation should not be taken as a sign the Pirates plan to rush him. Rather, McCutchen will open the year at low Class A Hickory, just as the Pirates' previous first-round pick, catcher Neil Walker, did last season.

That apparently will be fine with McCutchen.

"I'm not going to set my expectations too high as to where I'll start out," he said. "For me, what I want to do in a major-league spring training is leave a good impression on the manager and all the coaches, just perform to the best of my ability. And, hopefully, all this hard work I'm doing right now will pay off in the long run."

Buried treasure

McCutchen is among 22 invitees to big-league camp who are not on the 40-man roster. That total of 62 invitees is five below the number the Pirates had at the start of last spring training, so more minor-league signings are expected.

Walker, who was invited to big-league camp last year because of a contract clause, would have been invited again on merit, Graham said, except that he is recovering from wrist surgery.

Tickets for the Pirates' spring training exhibitions at McKechnie Field went on sale yesterday, and the March 11 game against the Boston Red Sox sold out.

The black alternate jersey will be eliminated from the Pirates' wardrobe this season. It was introduced in 1997. Only the sleeveless models will remain.

The Pirates will not be required to play their regulars at the Hall of Fame Game May 15, but precedent indicates there is a chance the fans in Cooperstown, N.Y., will demand one or two. On the team's previous visit in 1980, fresh off the "Family" championship, the crowd at Doubleday Field spent two innings chanting, "We want Willie!" Chuck Tanner sent Willie Stargell to the plate as a pinch-hitter in the sixth, and Stargell hit a two-run shot over the 400-foot wall in center. The Pirates beat the Chicago White Sox, 11-8.

The second leg of the Pirates' Winter Caravan begins tomorrow and will cover Butler, Erie, Meadville, Franklin, Punxsutawney, Du Bois, Johnstown, Beaver, New Castle and Wheeling, W.Va., over six days. Signing autographs will be Jack Wilson, Mike Gonzalez, Freddy Sanchez, pitching coach Jim Colborn and broadcasters Lanny Frattare and John Wehner. Details are available at pirates.mlb.com.

Center fielder Chris Duffy was added to the list of 10 players attending PirateFest, which opens Friday at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

Twenty-five days until pitchers and catchers report.