Heading into the 2014, Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen is reigning king. He's fresh off an MVP award, one which came a season after he was a runner up for the award. He has a gold glove, two silver sluggers, three all star appearances, and the ultimate Swagger. Since his call up to the big leagues in June 2009, Cutch has become a fan favorite, electrifying the new wave of Pirates fans that have come through the gates of PNC Park.
An interesting thing I had been thinking about was the early career of former Pirates outfielder Barry Bonds. Similarly to McCutchen, Bonds was highly touted, highly athletic, and highly successful in his career with the Pirates. He later went on to take the Home Run Crown amid his steroid allegation; but while just focusing on his time with the Bucs, those seasons were truly enjoyable for Pirates fans. As I was a 90s kid, I wasn't able to start watching and understanding until after he was gone (but well before big-bopper Johnny Van Benschoten was drafted as a pitcher). I thought it would be kind of interesting though to take this generation's superstar in Cutch, and compare his statistics so far with Bonds' at the same point in his career. Now this is merely for fun and water-cooler talk: I'm not saying that McCutchen is Bonds, is better than Bonds, or anything of the like.
As a refresher, the seasons compiled for Bonds are 1986-1990; for McCutchen, it's 2009-2013 (statistics were compiled from Baseball Reference; click on the charts to expand and have a better view of the statistics):
McCutchen:
In some of the key, old-school statistics, it's pretty interesting to see how close the two are in terms of career totals: McCutchen has the advantaged in total hits, doubles, triples, and RBIs, while Bonds has a slim lead in total home runs by 14. Bonds has a fairly significant advantage in the stolen base department, which is one area McCutchen has stated numerous times that he will strive to get better in. Even when comparing their OPS' and WAR, the two are close: Bonds had a career-OPS thus far of .835, trailing McCutchen's .869, while Bonds has the WAR advantage, 32.1-26.3. As a Pirates fan, it's obviously pretty cool to see our best player now in McCutchen having similar or superior statistics to one of the best outfielders to ever roam in Pittsburgh in Bonds. It definitely makes you wonder where McCutchen will rank in the all-time great outfielders for the organization when he hangs up his spikes.
What do these statistics say? No, this doesn't mean that in just a few years McCutchen is going to start reaching home run totals of 50+. For one, it means that both players were both very special talents in their first few years in a Pirates uniform. We all know what type of career Bonds went on to have, but even if his home run totals were not completely jacked up, he still would have been one of the best outfielders to play during the last 25 years. If he can stay on this same career progression, McCutchen is destined to carry the same recognition someday. McCutchen will forever be remembered as the center piece and pillar of the magical 2013 season, and complete turnaround of the Pirates organization. In fifteen more years, he could be remembered for bringing the first NL Pennant to Pittsburgh since 1979, winning multiple MVP awards for the first time since Bonds, and many other noteworthy achievements. I guess the biggest takeaway from these numbers is quite simple: enjoy Andrew McCutchen. His very team-friendly deal allows him to stay with the Pirates currently until 2018. If we're lucky, the front office could hopefully offer a similar deal that Evan Longoria signed with the Tampa Bay Rays a few years back, allowing McCutchen to play the entirety of his prime years in Pittsburgh, and hopefully longer. The Pirates are definitely doing the right thing, in terms of a small market team, in preparing future successors in the outfield, but McCutchen may just be special enough to not only warrant staying in Pittsburgh for a long time, but his desire to stay in Pittsburgh may equal that.