Andrew McCutchen is not himself right now — there’s no other way to put it. He says he’s fine. The team says he’s fine. He’s not fine: he’s batting .188/.279/.292 and has been a below replacement level player through the first month of the season.
The offense as a whole has struggled early on, but it’s still obvious how much of the team’s production runs through #22. They’ve scored two or fewer runs in 14 of their 27 contests, wasting plenty of good pitching performances and quickly falling to eight games out of first place.
With McCutchen, something seems to be missing. What his quick hands used to pull into screaming line drives are now becoming weak ground balls and lazy pop-ups. His line drive rate is down to a minuscule 9.9%, down from 18.7% last year and 24.5% in his MVP 2013. Only Boston’s Mike Napoli is hitting line drives at a lower rate (8.5%) and he’s fared even worse than McCutchen (.167/.265/.278).
While the typical line drive falls in for a hit more frequently than the ground ball or fly ball, not all liners are created equally. In 2014, 53.7% of Cutch’s liners were categorized as “hard-hit” by Baseball Info Solutions. This season, that rate is down to 37.5%. Yikes.
Overall, he’s hitting the ball hard 33.3% of the time in 2015, down from 40.5% a year ago and 40.1% in 2013.
Check out some spray charts on McCutchen’s line drives — first from 2014:
(For reference: blue dots are outs; red dots are hits)
Now from 2015:
He’s not pulling anything, which he usually does with great force.
In 2014, he showed how he could turn any pitch into a solid liner:
Obviously, this year’s sample is much smaller. However, the only offering he’s turned into a line drive on more than one occasion: the four-seam fastball.
Here’s what a scout told ESPN’s Jayson Stark:
“He’s hurt… Hitters have to have their legs. He’s a great fastball hitter. But when you don’t have your legs, the breaking ball is even more difficult to hit. It’s hard to trust your hands if you know that when you follow through, your left knee is going to hurt.”
It was reported yesterday that McCutchen revealed to the team that his left knee was bothering him this offseason. Apparently the diagnosis was inflammation in the knee — no structural damage. He’s insistent that it isn’t hampering him, but…
Cutch said “his slow start at the plate is a mechanical issue, not something that could be cured by going on the disabled list.” That’s Jeff Branson‘s job to fix. Healthy-ish or not, Cutch is not himself. The quick hands, the explosiveness, the torque he typically generates — missing.
These two shots are from September of last season, when Cutch was returning to form after his DL stint…
And these are from Tuesday night — he almost seems slumped over, possibly unable to provide enough strength from the lower half, becoming weak at the point of contact…
In motion, here’s the second screenshot from above — 86 mph down the middle, resulting in a home run:
And here’s the fourth screenshot — also 86 down the middle, resulting in a lazy pop-up to center field:
The explosiveness isn’t there. Cutch — and the Pirates — desperately need it back. Despite his small stature, #22 evolved into one of baseball’s best hitters with his incredible bat speed. It’s not around at the moment, and we’re seeing far fewer line drives (none to the pull-side) and some ugly swings in general.
It’s hard not to think he’s playing injured right now, but the Pirates need a solution — or a cure — sooner rather than later.
Go Bucs
The post Andrew McCutchen’s Loss of the Line Drive appeared first on From Forbes to Federal.
