Downside to being the face of the franchise
BRADENTON, Fla. — Andrew McCutchen seemingly has about a sweet of a gig as any 29-year-old could want.
He is the star center fielder of the Pittsburgh Pirates, a team he has helped transform from laughingstock into contender with three straight postseason appearances. He is the team’s most popular players, idolized by countless kids in western Pennsylvania and beyond, and will be paid $13 million this season.
Major League Baseball recognized him at the World Series last year by presenting him with the Roberto Clemente Award, which goes yearly to the player who epitomizes baseball, sportsmanship and community involvement.
McCutchen is the first to admit he has a good life. However, there are also a downside to being the proverbial face of the franchise, especially for someone who was raised to treat everyone with respect.
“Everybody is looking at you,” McCutchen said recently as the Pirates’ spring training camp. “Everybody is watching your moves and what you’re going to do and what’s going to happen. Some people don’t realize that I’m human.
“Sometimes people are just waiting for you to fail. You can be a great guy or a good guy, but sometimes things happen. You might say or do something that you don’t normally do, and the next thing you know is, you’re getting bashed for it. That gets tough.
“When there are a lot of people around wanting autographs, sometimes I don’t have time for them and I have to leave. Then people won’t like you for that. You live with it.”
McCutchen seemed destined for stardom since 2005 when the Pirates used their first-round pick, 11th overall, in the amateur draft to select him following his senior year of high school in Fort Meade, Fla.
Not only did McCutchen possess extraordinary athletic ability along with a good feel for the game, but he also showed a maturity well beyond his age. Yet, someone who comes from a town with a population a shade under 6,000 admits that he has exceeded his own expectations.
He has turned out to be a franchise savior, helping the Pirates end their streak of 20 consecutive losing seasons in 2013. That was the longest such streak in the history of major North American professional team sports.
“I never envisioned anything like this,” McCutchen said. “The mission was to make it to the major leagues. That was it. I really didn’t think about anything past that. When I was 17, I just thought it would be awesome to play for a professional team.”
McCutchen has been nothing short of awesome for the Pirates, hitting .298 with 151 home runs, 154 RBI, a .388 on-base percentage and a .496 slugging percentage in 1,037 games over seven seasons.
McCutchen was the National League’s Most Valuable Player in 2013 and has finished in the top five in voting for the award in each of the last four seasons. He has also played in the last five All-Star Games, won four consecutive Silver Sluggers and captured a Gold Glove in 2012.
Hampered by knee soreness last season, McCutchen had a down year — by his standards — hitting .292 with 23 homers and 11 steals in 157 games. However, he says he is pain-free this spring and feels poised for best season yet.
No wonder everyone seemingly wants a piece of him.
McCutchen is able to take refuge during parts of the offseason and spring training by hanging out in Fort Meade, which is the central part of Florida, 60 miles northeast of Bradenton. In the phosphate-mining town, he is just an ordinary guy.
“Fort Meade is so small that everybody knows everybody,” McCutchen said. “People don’t know me as Andrew McCutchen. They know me as Drew. They don’t know me as a baseball player. They know I play baseball, of course. But they just know me as the little kid who grew up on Fourth Street.
“That’s my hometown. That’s where I grew up. That’s how it is and how it should be.”