{"id":139193,"date":"2026-03-15T21:13:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T21:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/139193\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T21:13:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T21:13:10","slug":"andrew-mccutchen-needed-to-impress-rangers-quickly-it-only-took-him-a-week-to-stand-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/139193\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew McCutchen needed to impress Rangers quickly. It only took him a week to stand out"},"content":{"rendered":"

SURPRISE, Ariz. \u2014 He understood the assignment. Andrew McCutchen is 39 years old and has played more games than any active player.<\/a> Since he posted an Instagram story in a cowboy hat and western wear after signing a minor league deal with the Rangers,<\/a> we\u2019ll go there: This ain\u2019t his first rodeo.<\/p>\n

He knew he had two weeks \u2014 tops \u2014 to make an impression on the Rangers. <\/p>\n

It took him only one. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a veteran pro who came ready to play, ready to produce right away,\u201d manager Skip Schumaker<\/a> said. \u201cHis at-bats have been like I remember them. He doesn\u2019t swing outside the strike zone. Long at-bats. He\u2019ll do damage in the strike zone. So, I\u2019m very impressed where he\u2019s at. Not surprised, because that\u2019s what I expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Some context: McCutchen, who signed a week ago Friday,<\/a> took two days of at-bats in back field minor league games. He doubled in his first at-bat back there. He hasn\u2019t stopped doubling since. In four \u201cA\u201d games, he\u2019s scorched three doubles, had three singles and walked four times. He made outs just three times in his first 12 plate appearances. He swung and missed three times in 40 pitches.<\/p>\n

Sure, the Rangers expected McCutchen to come to camp ready for the challenge. Just maybe not this ready. <\/p>\n

So let\u2019s try once more. <\/p>\n

This? You expected this, Skip?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, probably not,\u201d the manager allowed. \u201cBut I knew he was ready, just because of the video work that we saw. But he\u2019s jumped in and hit plus velo right away. I mean, there are guys [who have been in camps all spring], who aren\u2019t there yet on the velo. So, yeah, it\u2019s been impressive.\u201d <\/p>\n

Perhaps there was one other thing for which the Rangers weren\u2019t exactly prepared – just how motivated McCutchen is. He\u2019s said he has a \u201cchip on my shoulder.\u201d That\u2019ll happen when, speaking of shoulders, the team with which you expected to finish your career gives you a cold one. <\/a><\/p>\n

McCutchen, who spent his first nine years in the majors in Pittsburgh and the last three, was the best thing to happen to Pirates baseball between Barry Bonds and Paul Skenes. He was the only thing to celebrate in a once-proud baseball town. In McCutchen\u2019s first spin in Pittsburgh, he won an MVP, finished in the top five three times and took the Pirates to three playoff berths. They are the only three playoff berths since Bonds left for San Francisco. That was 35 years ago. <\/p>\n

When McCutchen went back to Pittsburgh in 2023, after five years drifting around four other clubs, it was the idea that he\u2019d finish out his career there mentoring young players and eventually walk across the Roberto Clemente Bridge into retirement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I was going to do that,\u201d McCutchen told The Dallas Morning News. \u201cI was pretty vocal about doing that, and wanted that. The other side also was pretty vocal about wanting to do that too, but they wanted to do it a little sooner.\u201d <\/p>\n

McCutchen isn\u2019t sure what exactly the Pirates had planned; all he knew was that he wanted to keep playing. And for them. He\u2019d expressed as much to Pirates owner Bob Nutting in an offseason conversation. Then he waited for a response. He figured he\u2019d hear something directly, especially since he\u2019d negotiated the three previous one-year deals with Pittsburgh without an agent. <\/p>\n

It never came. At first, McCutchen was puzzled. He won\u2019t say he was hurt. Confused. But not hurt. Just wished the Pirates had acted with more transparency if they didn\u2019t want to continue the relationship. Would have made it easier to pursue a job elsewhere. But it also served a purpose. The episode added a bit of extra edge to his motivation. Even before the cold shoulder, he\u2019d started working on some swing changes to make his swing \u201cmore repeatable,\u201d and improve mobility. He knew at 39, coming off the lowest slugging percentage and OPS of his career, he needed to make changes to account for age. It all drove him a little harder.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year wasn\u2019t the way I planned to go out,\u201d McCutchen said. \u201cMy body wasn\u2019t moving the right way. We had some of the same ballpark effect the Rangers had last year, that the ball wasn\u2019t really flying to left field. You weren\u2019t getting rewarded as often and I was trying to find ways to improve the numbers. How can I get hits? How can I get on base? How can I work counts?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI put my body into positions that weren\u2019t ideal. I needed to get back to basics and get myself in the most optimal position for 39 that I could get. And, honestly, I feel like I\u2019m in a better spot than I have been in a number of years.\u201d <\/p>\n

Doesn\u2019t mean anything is guaranteed. The Rangers signed veteran Mark Canha to a minor league deal<\/a> two weeks before McCutchen. And Canha, who entered Sunday hitting .300 for the spring, has had a solid spring. Canha, at 37, may be better suited to play the outfield than the former Gold Glove winner, though McCutchen said a big part of his offseason work was to erase any stigma he\u2019d become \u201cone dimensional and a DH who could barely do that.\u201d <\/p>\n

A year ago, his bat speed averaged 71.1 mph, according to MLBStatcast, which ranked in just the 34th percentile. Spring training bat speeds aren\u2019t officially tracked, but the Rangers feel they\u2019ve seen a repeated swing and more bat speed. It seems to have shown up in his exit velocities. Though a small sample size, McCutchen went into Sunday averaging 91.5 mph on exit velocity; last spring it was 87.5 mph. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe is repeating the swing with each at-bat,\u201d hitting instructor Justin Viele said. \u201cHis at-bat quality is just different than what I saw watching video last year. He\u2019s smart and very cerebral in that regard; he\u2019s made the adjustments. I assumed when he came here, getting into his timing quickly would be a challenge, but he\u2019s turning around heaters.\u201d <\/p>\n

He\u2019s got another week to go to finish things off, but if Week Two goes as well as the first, the question may not be will he make the roster; it might be about the possibility of him being the alternative DH if Joc Pederson struggles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t been in this position, in a place where there are a lot of doubts from other people in quite a long time; I\u2019m motivated in a different way,\u201d McCutchen said. \u201cI remember getting invitations to spring training when I was 20-21 years old, knowing I wasn\u2019t going to make the team, but had the approach that I wanted to showcase that I can do this here, no matter the age. This is kind of the same thing, only the ages are different. I want to show people that I can continue to play this game at a very high level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click or tap here to sign up for our Rangers newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SURPRISE, Ariz. \u2014 He understood the assignment. Andrew McCutchen is 39 years old and has played more games…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1165,73,75,74,33462,63857,726,33461],"class_list":["post-139193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-article","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-rangers","tag-skip-schumaker","tag-sports","tag-texas-rangers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}