Of Young Bucs, McCutchen Leading Way

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Andrew McCutchen is the Pirates' leadoff hitter.

As such, he led the team in runs scored last year. No surprise there, right?

Wrong. McCutchen didn't make it to the big leagues until June and only played in 108 games. Still, he scored 74 runs in those 108 games, an average of 0.68 runs per game.

The National League's runs leader, St. Louis first baseman Albert Pujols, averaged 0.77 runs per game, so McCutchen's numbers aren't to be easily dismissed.

In fact, if the woe-is-us Pirates are ever going to climb out of the depths of decrepitude -- Pittsburgh hasn't had a winning record in 17 years (since 1992 if you're counting) and hasn't finished within a dozen games of .500 in any of the last six seasons -- McCutchen will be one of those showing the way.

A first-round pick of the Pirates (11th overall) in 2005, McCutchen has hit at every level, culminating with his big-league debut in 2009 -- a .286 average, a dozen homers and 54 RBI. And he stole 22 bases, too, a challenge other clubs are going to have to defend against.

McCutchen, in fact, stole bases in each of the season's final four games (five steals overall) and is looking to test opposing defenses much more often this time around.

"I'm going to be running until [manager John Russell] tells me to stop,'' McCutchen said Sunday after doing morning work on improving his first-step jump off first base. "I'm going to be running pretty much every time I get the opportunity and I feel that I can go.''

McCutchen is also working on his bunting game, rationalizing that if he can draw the corner infielders in even one step, that could open the door to any number of extra hits he can slip through the drawn-in infield. That combined with an already high on-base percentage (.365, thanks to 54 walks) has the potential to jump-start the Pittsburgh offense.

"If the third basemen are going to play back and it can be to our benefit,'' McCutcheon said, "then I might as well take a shot at [bunting].''

Pittsburgh manager John Russell says having McCutchen gives the club a dynamic presence at the top of the lineup. At the same time, the skipper says that last year's four months in the big leagues need to be followed up and expanded upon.

Pirate general manager Neal Huntington thought enough of McCutchen that he went out and acquired second baseman Aki Iwamura with the idea that he'd be the ideal No. 2 man to hit behind McCutchen.

"That was one of the things that intrigues us about Andrew at the top,'' Huntington told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. "Two guys that can run, that can advance bases, two guys that can put pressure on pitchers, make the pitchers work and let our middle of the lineup see what the pitcher has that day, then score on balls that they're not supposed to score on.''

Although the Pirates are being easily dismissed again in 2010, it should be noted that the club is starting to add talent and depth. Just since last year, they've brought in three former first-round picks of other clubs -- utilityman Bobby Crosby (Oakland, 2001), catcher-turned-first baseman Jeff Clement (Seattle, 2005) and outfielder Lastings Milledge (Yankees, 2003).

Those three join five Pirate first-round picks on the 40-man roster, four of whom -- pitchers Brad Lincoln (2006) and Paul Maholm (2003), infielder Neil Walker (2004) and McCutchen -- are likely contributors this season.