Goal for Pirates' McCutchen is to excel in full season
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Andrew McCutchen's production at the plate in 2011 resembled a bell curve. This offseason, he is working to straighten it out for 2012.
"Just to get myself right, get myself in shape to be able to withstand 162 games-plus," the Pirates center fielder said Sunday on the final day of PirateFest at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. "That's my goal and that's what I'm trying to do. I know what I need to do to get ready, it's all about doing it."
McCutchen hit .219 in April, but picked up the pace and hit .347 in June. He hit .394 in the first 10 days of July before making his first appearance in the All-Star Game and finished the first half with a .291 average, 14 home runs and 54 RBIs. McCutchen hit .216 in the second half, though, and finished with a .259 average and 89 RBIs. He hit .286 in his first two seasons in the majors.
"I think it just came to more of just trying to do a little too much," he said. "Not staying within myself, playing my game and letting things happen naturally."
McCutchen still finished with a .364 on-base percentage, just below the .365 mark he had during his first two seasons. His strikeouts climbed from 89 in 2010 to 126 last season.
McCutchen's second-half decline came in conjunction with the Pirates' second-half slide. They were 47-43 in the first half but won only 25 games after the All-Star break and finished 72-90.
"We weren't scoring the runs we should have been scoring," McCutchen said. "We get down by some runs and have a couple people on base, instead of staying within myself, driving the ball, trusting my hands, I'm trying to hit the ball out of the park and tie the game up. I think that's kind of what made the average go down, the strikeouts kind of pile up. That's just something you learn and you just get better at it."
Regardless of his second half, McCutchen, 25, remains one of the best young players on the Pirates roster. He will be eligible for arbitration after the 2012 season and free agency after the 2015 season. The Pirates have discussed a long-term contract with McCutchen and his agent, Steve Hammond, in the past. McCutchen said he is not worried about it.
"We definitely want to work something out but that's nothing that I can control right now," he said. "All I can do is get ready for the season and get things right. I'll let everything else take care of itself."
Part of getting ready for the season involves a commitment to stolen bases. McCutchen is one of the fastest players in the game, but his steals dropped from 33 in 2010 to 23 last season.
"I think [McCutchen's] biggest thing for us is getting on base and becoming a force again when he's on base and stealing bases," manager Clint Hurdle said at the winter meetings.
Gaining confidence, McCutchen said, will help the difficult task of becoming comfortable stealing bases, and he'll use spring training to work on it.
"That's what I've been trying to work on, is just getting that confidence just to go, and not trying to be perfect every single time," he said. "I've got some speed, I should be using it. That's the plan, going out and getting some work in spring training. "
McCutchen spent the fall working out in Florida and Pittsburgh. He said he was pleased with the way the Pirates pursued free agents in the offseason.
"You can see the improvement in the team by what they're doing," he said. "By them going out and getting who they want [instead of] waiting until the market kind of slows down and getting who's left over.
"It's good to be able to see that. We get what we want and that's a big change for us there."
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NOTE -- The Pirates announced that year-to-date season ticket sales have increased by more than 40 percent for the 2012 season.
First Published December 19, 2011 12:00 am
