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The Pirates Finally Made the Right Call For Their Outfield Alignment

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BRADENTON, Fla. – It’s not exactly news that Andrew McCutchen is moving out of center field this year. Starling Marte will be taking over the position, Gregory Polanco will move to left field, and McCutchen will find a new home in right field. This was announced officially by the team a few weeks ago, and speculated all throughout the offseason.

Today was just the first day that McCutchen discussed the official change, and the first day he, Marte, and Polanco were together for the first full squad workouts. Marte and Polanco discussed their new positions yesterday, but hadn’t talked with McCutchen until today.

The weird thing about covering this whole story is that it doesn’t really feel like it should be a story. As someone who has called for Starling Marte to take over center field since he arrived in late-2012, this just feels like something which is long overdue. And yes, the story here is the reaction from the players, and how McCutchen is handling the move. But in terms of the impact, this is a move that has made sense for a long time, and it’s good to see it finally happening.

As for that reaction, the Pirates always left the alignment decision to McCutchen, which based on his comments is something that ended this offseason.

“It wasn’t an ask. It was more of a say,” McCutchen said of the move to right field. “I have to move there. That’s something I wanted to go against. It wasn’t something that I was ready for, or that I wanted to do, but as I’m saying it, I’m talking about myself. I just have to not be as selfish, and accept that this is what I have to do, and move over to right.”

According to Clint Hurdle, the team and McCutchen had constant conversations on the subject starting right after the final series in St. Louis, and ending in late January when they made the decision. They explained the Statcast data that showed McCutchen was better moving to his right, Polanco was better to his left, and Marte is pretty even both ways. And everyone involved stressed that the big factor here was that Marte was such a good defender.

“We wouldn’t be having this conversation if we didn’t have Marte in camp,” Hurdle said. “That’s a very gifted defender, as is Polanco. So all three of them become more valuable in the spots we moved them to.”

Statistically, McCutchen was the worst center fielder in the game last year, and it wasn’t close. McCutchen mentioned that the cut of the grass and playing shallow had an impact. He said he feels he can still play center field, and Hurdle even talked him up by saying he played some of his best center field last year. It’s hard to accept that as reality when the stats show otherwise.

At best, we can give McCutchen a pass for the 2016 season, and say that he is closer to his pre-2016 metrics. But those results in center field are still worse than Marte, and come with the fact that all of the metrics tracking McCutchen’s speed and defense have shown a steady decline the last four years. It’s almost as if the horrible 2016 season gave the Pirates the excuse they needed to finally make the switch, followed by everyone saying the right thing about how McCutchen was good, can still play the position, and this is only about Marte.

“At the end of the day, it was a couple different things that really spoke to how we could best serve our club with the skill sets with those three men, and how we could place them that made the most sense,” Hurdle said.

To his credit, while McCutchen doesn’t seem to prefer the move, he’s on board. Shortly after the move was announced, he tweeted a simple photo of Roberto Clemente. The photo didn’t need any words. It’s the most popular player on the team right now taking over the spot that was the home of the most popular player in team history.

“Once I got over the fact that I had to move, I tried to look at it and get some positivity out of it,” McCutchen said. “That’s one way to look at it. Playing a position or a spot of a guy that you idolize. He set the standard of someone I would love to be like, or at least half that guy.”

The move to right field also comes after an offseason where McCutchen was involved in plenty of trade rumors, and nearly traded. At one point, it looked like there was no chance he would be returning. It would be easy for McCutchen to be disgruntled by the trade rumors and then the position change. But he had several conversations with Pirates management about that as well, and is moving past it.

“I’m just looking forward to seeing everybody, my teammates,” McCutchen said. “Just looking forward to being back, being out in the field playing. I’m sure you all are sick of hearing about it, and I am too.”

The Pirates will now move forward with their best defensive outfielder in the most important spot, and advanced metrics dictating their outfield alignment now, rather than seniority and individual player popularity. It should be an easy decision to make on paper, but the human element made it more difficult. Credit to them for finally making the switch, and credit to McCutchen for getting on board, even when he doesn’t like the move.

For years we’ve talked about how the outfield could be the best trio in baseball, and a group that could make the Pirates contenders. Part of that is due to their offensive potential, but another part is due to their defensive abilities. Having this defensive alignment will make it more likely that the Pirates get the best production possible out of this group, which is a big step toward them returning to the playoffs again this year.

Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

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