The other day when Andrew McCutchen hit his first of three homers, he passed Barry Bonds in extra-base hits with the Pirates. Bonds had 432 XBH with the Pirates, while McCutchen now sits in 13th place in team history with 436. McCutchen has been with the Pirates long enough now, that you’re going to hear often about him passing some impressive names in team history as he continues to pile up stats.
In that same game that he passed Bonds, he also tied Andy Van Slyke with 1057 games played and passed him in RBIs. That last category has seen a diminished role with the sabermetrics crowd around, but the all-time records held by Hank Aaron and Hack Wilson are still iconic. The team RBI list also has an interesting group around McCutchen right now. Not only is a great center fielder right behind him now in Van Slyke, the player with the 18th highest total is Hall of Fame center fielder Lloyd Waner. That’s a pretty good group of center fielders bunched up together.
As for the games played list, McCutchen now ranks 30th in team history. He’s 21 games behind Rennie Stennett, who is next up on the list.
It’s a lot easier to do this with accumulated stats, as categories like OPS, batting average and WAR, can go up or down based on performance, while accumulated stats like doubles, runs and stolen bases can only increase. As an example, McCutchen has been anywhere from 22nd to 30th in batting average over the last year.
So sticking with the easier stats, we take a look ahead at who is up next on each list.
In runs scored, McCutchen is 22nd, 12 runs behind Bill Virdon.
In hits, he is also 22nd (must be something with him and that number) with 1172. Next up is Carson Bigbee, who finished with 1205. After that it is a big jump to get into the top 20, with Patsy Donovan at 1286. By the way, I should point out that you can use the search feature on this site to find out info on most of these old players. There are mini bios on more than 1500 players from the Pirates as part of the history column we did back in 2011-12.
In total bases, McCutchen is 17th, 55 behind Bill Virdon, who I’d like to point out was a pretty good center fielder in his day.
In doubles, he is 15 behind Jason Kendall, who sits in 13th place with 256. Earlier this year, McCutchen passed the great Fred Clarke, who finished his time with the Pirates with 238 doubles.
How many people remember McCutchen collecting five triples in his first 17 games? Seemed like it was going to be a daily occurrence, but he has been stuck on 39 since last year. The next one he hits will get him into the team’s top 50.
McCutchen is eighth in team history with 156 homers. He is seven behind the original Frank Thomas.
He probably won’t move up on the walk list until late this year, as he trails Bonds by 55 free passes. The 56th one will put him in 11th place, ten walks behind Roberto Clemente.
There is a pretty good name just ahead of him in 15th place on the stolen bases list. McCutchen with 155 steals trails Pie Traynor by three.
I mentioned extra-base hits above, but failed to mentioned that 11th place is a tie between Al Oliver and Gus Suhr. Those two won’t lose their spot anytime soon, as McCutchen needs 31 more to catch them. After he passes them, the top ten includes Dave Parker and nine Hall of Famers.
McCutchen ranks 18th in times on base, which is hits+walks+hit-by-pitch. He is 32 behind Al Oliver and 56 behind Bill Virdon.
Finally, I wasn’t going to include intentional walks. Walks in general seemed good enough. Then I saw McCutchen was in 12th place with 53, one spot ahead of Dale Berra. Anytime you can tie Dale Berra on an all-time list, that is a proud moment.
McCutchen still basically has a minimum of three full seasons left with the team, assuming he isn’t traded before his current contract expires. That will give him time to put his name among the elites in team history in many categories. Later in the year, I’ll look back on this article (if I remember) and see where he ranks on each list. I would wait until the end of the season, but the Morning Report wraps up for the year when the minor league playoffs finish. That will be about two weeks before the Pirates finish their regular season.
PIRATES GAME GRAPH
Pirates were postponed on Thursday.
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pirates had their game against the Rockies postponed on Thursday. They now come home to play the Reds for three games. Juan Nicasio will be on the mound tonight making his fifth start. He gave up two runs over five innings in his last start against the Diamondbacks. The Reds will counter with Dan Straily, who will make his third start to go along with three relief appearances. He has a 3.50 ERA in 18 innings, which isn’t bad, but his other stats indicate he has pitched better. He has a 1.00 WHIP and a .148 BAA, with 17 strikeouts.
In the minors, Brandon Waddell will make his fifth start. He is eighth in the Florida State League with a 1.17 ERA and his 0.57 WHIP is first in the league. Logan Sendelbach goes for West Virginia tonight. He ranks ninth in the South Atlantic League in ERA and he has a 1.00 WHIP. Wilfredo Boscan starts for Indianapolis and Jason Creasy gets the ball for Altoona.
MLB: Pittsburgh (13-9) vs Reds (9-13) 7:05 PM
Probable starter: Juan Nicasio (4.50 ERA, 11:21 BB/SO, 20.0 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (10-9) @ Norfolk (8-13) 7:15 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Wilfredo Boscan (2.65 ERA, 3:14 BB/SO, 17.0 IP)
AA: Altoona (9-11) @ Akron (12-8) 6:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Jason Creasy (4.50 ERA, 4:11 BB/SO, 22.0 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (9-12) @ Jupiter (9-12) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Brandon Waddell (1.17 ERA, 2:19 BB/SO, 23.0 IP)
Low-A: West Virginia (14-7) vs Rome (8-13) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Logan Sendelbach (1.71 ERA, 3:12 BB/SO, 21.0 IP)
HIGHLIGHTS
Here is the 11th strikeout from Steven Brault on Wednesday. The minors have had some impressive outings by Mitch Keller, Tyler Glasnow and Jameson Taillon, but Brault’s performance in this game was the best pitched game. He worked both sides of the plate, mixed his pitches well and did a great job of keeping the ball down and pounding the strike zone.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
4/27: Sam Street placed on the temporary inactive list. Jose Regalado added to Bradenton.
4/25: Pedro Florimon added to Indianapolis roster. Antoan Richardson released.
4/25: Austin Meadows added to Altoona roster. Justin Maffei assigned to Morgantown.
4/25: Jake Burnette placed on disabled list. Logan Ratledge assigned to West Virginia.
4/22: Pirates recall Jason Rogers. Cole Figueroa optioned to Indianapolis.
4/21: Pirates release Michael Morse.
4/21: Jhondaniel Medina assigned to Altoona.
4/21: Cory Luebke assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.
4/20: Jared Hughes assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.
4/19: Julio Vivas added to West Virginia roster. Logan Ratledge assigned to Morgantown.
4/18: Jung-ho Kang assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.
4/16: Trevor Williams placed on disabled list. Jhondaniel Medina promoted to Indianapolis.
4/15: John Kuchno promoted to Indianapolis. Frank Duncan added to Altoona roster.
4/14: Cory Luebke placed on disabled list. Pirates recall Rob Scahill.
4/14: Pirates sign Justin Masterson.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Two former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, one was part of a father-son combo that both played for the Pirates. Pitcher Tony Armas made 15 starts and 16 relief appearances for the 2007 Pirates. He had an awful season, posting a 6.03 ERA and ended up pitching just three more Major League games following his time in Pittsburgh. His father, who was also named Tony Armas, was an outfielder, who was signed by the Pirates as an amateur free agent in 1971. He played briefly with the team in 1976, before he was traded to the Oakland A’s.
Also born on this date was outfielder John Vander Wal, who was part of two big trades for the Pirates. In 2000, he was acquired for Al Martin. Then in 2001 at the trade deadline, he was sent to the San Francisco Giants as part of the Jason Schmidt deal. Vander Wal put up big numbers for the Pirates in limited time in 2000, driving in 94 runs in 384 at-bats.
One game of note, and there is another from the 1990 season mentioned in the link above. On this date in 1934, the Pirates played their first Sunday home game in franchise history. They beat the Cincinnati Reds by a 9-5 score in front of 20,000 fans. Prior to 1934, there was a law on the books, prohibiting Sunday baseball (professional games) in the state of Pennsylvania.
Owner Barney Dreyfuss was against the idea of Sunday baseball at home, so he never fought the law. That meant that the Pirates franchise went their first 52 seasons without playing a Sunday game at home, often times traveling to nearby Cincinnati, or Cleveland during the earlier days, to play their Sunday games. Dreyfuss passed away in 1932 and after that, both the Phillies and Pirates appealed the law, getting it removed in time for the 1934 season. The Pirates lineup from that day can be found below, while you can see the full boxscore here.
Lloyd Waner, CF
Paul Waner, RF
Freddie Lindstrom, LF
Arky Vaughan, SS
Gus Suhr, 1B
Cookie Lavagetto, 2B
Tommy Thevenow, 3B
Pat Veltman, C
Red Lucas, P
