A New “Mc” In Town
Neil Huntington and the Pittsburgh Pirates seem to be really supportive of my blog name. The “Mc” Effect will be tested again tomorrow as Daniel McCutchen will be called up to make the start in the first game of a day-night double header against the Cincinnati Reds. I wrote a little bit about McCutchen yesterday in my Future Of The Rotation post, little did I know that the future would come as soon as tomorrow. Let’s take a look at what McCutchen has been doing in AAA this year.
2009 with Indianapolis Indians - 24 Starts, 13-6, 3.47 ERA, 142.2 IP, 145 H, 63 R, 55 ER, 10 HR, 29 BB, 110 SO, 3 HBP, 5 WP, 1.220 WHIP, 9.1 H/9, 1.8 BB/9, 6.9 SO/9, 3.79 SO/BB, 0.63 HR/9, .316 BABIP, 69.9% LOB%, 3.24 FIP
So there’s the stat line, just about everything you can imagine of raw stats. The 3.47 ERA and the 3.24 FIP (basically an ERA number based on everything that the pitcher can control) really tell the story. McCutchen has been great at keeping the opposition off the scoreboard. That has earned him 13 wins in 24 starts. The strikeouts aren’t amazing, but 6.9 per 9 is pretty formidable. McCutchen isn’t an overpowering pitcher either. His fastball is normally in the low 90′s, although he does occasionally reach around 94 or 95.
McCutchen is 27 years old so there is really no reason for the Pirates to make him strictly a starting pitcher. I think his future with the Pirates (if he has one) will be in the bullpen. There is no way he can compete with guys like Brad Lincoln and Tim Alderson in 3-5 years.
It will be really exciting to see a new Pirate on the mound and to check out what he’s capable of. We are going to be seeing a lot of this stuff in the next couple months and into next year. It starts with McCutchen, tomorrow at 1:05.
Andrew has been outstanding, and I’m expecting Daniel to experience similar results. Why you ask? Just chalk another one up to the “Mc” Effect.
mlblogseatsleepmlb
