PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It was an unfortunate ending for one of the Pirates greats. Now with Marcell Ozuna’s release, there is an opening for a right-handed bat who can hit left-handed pitching.
After not being re-signed by the Pirates, Andrew McCutchen joined the Texas Rangers on a minor league contract, made the Opening Day roster and had hits in the first five games of the season. He had only two hits the rest of April and was let go by Texas with a .192 average, .277 on-base percentage.
McCutchen signed a minor-league contract with the Atlanta Braves and after some games in the rookie league, played in AAA up until he was released on Tuesday. In 25 at bats in July with Gwinnett he had 10 hits including three doubles and a home run. He was 0 for 5 in two games in August.
Last year with the Pirates against left-handers, McCutchen hit .267 with a .353 on-base percentage, .743 OPS with three home runs. His career numbers against lefties are .287/.383/.894. McCutchen did play 13 games in the outfield for Texas and 13 more games in the minors with Atlanta.
The first move was to recall Ronny Simon from AAA. Is Cutch still an option?
