Visits: 5
The Philadelphia Phillies recently declined their club option for next season on Andrew McCutchen, age 35, and he is now a free agent. This past season, McCutchen hit only .222 but did hit 27 home runs and had 80 runs batted in.
If McCutchen can steal three bases in 2022, he stole six in 2021, he will become only the 31st player in Major League Baseball history to have more than 250 home runs (270) and 200 stolen bases (197) in a career while scoring more than 1,000 runs (1,052) and having a career batting average higher than .260 (.280). That’s a very nice career.
The other players to have reached those career numbers are and their stat lines that show home runs/stolen bases/runs scored/batting average:
*Aaron, Henry 755/240/2174/.305
Abreu, Bobby 288/400/1453/.291
*Bagwell, Jeff 449/202/1517/.281
Baylor, Don 338/285/1236/.260
Beltran, Carlos 435/312/1582/.279
*Biggio, Craig 291/414/1844/.281
Bonds, Barry 762/514/2227/.298
Bonds, Bobby 332/461/1258/.268
Braun, Ryan 352/216/1080/.296
*Brett, George 317/201/1583/.305
Canseco, Jose 462/200/1186/.266
*Dawson, Andre 438/314/1373/.279
Finley, Steve 304/320/1443/.271
*Henderson, Rickey 297/1406/2295/.279
*Jackson, Reggie 563/228/1551/.262
*Jeter, Derek 260/358/1923/.310
Kinsler, Ian 257/243/1243/.269
*Mays, Willie Mays 660/338/2068/.301
*Morgan, Joe 268/689/1650/.271
Pinson, Vada 256/305/1365/.286
Ramirez, Hanley 271/281/1049/.289
*Robinson, Frank 586/204/1829/.294
Rodriguez, Alex 696/329/2021/.295
Sandberg, Ryne 282/344/1318/.285
Sanders, Reggie 305/304/1037/.267
Sheffield, Gary 509/253/1636/.292
Soriano, Alfonso 412/289/1152/.270
Sosa, Sammy 609/234/1475/.273
*Walker, Larry 383/230/1355/.313
*Winfield, Dave 465/223/1669/.283
*Yount, Robin 251/271/1632/.285
*-Denotes Baseball Hall of Famer
Mike Trout needs to score 33 runs to make the list. Trout’s career stat line currently reads: 310/203/967/.305
If you add statistical criteria of having 2,000 hits, McCutchen needs 174 to reach 2,000 (currently he’s at 1,826), and that would eliminate these players on the list above that fell short of 2,000 hits:
Ian Kinsler 1999 hits
Ryan Braun 1963 hits
Bobby Bonds 1886 hits
Jose Canseco 1877 hits
Hanley Ramirez 1834 hits
Reggie Sanders 1666 hits
If McCutchen can reach 1,000 RBIs (currently at 933), that will eliminate Ian Kinsler who had 909 RBIs, Hanley Ramirez who had 917 RBIs, and Reggie Sanders who had 983 RBIs.
I’m not advocating that the Pirates sign McCutchen nor am I saying McCutchen’s career is worthy of induction into Cooperstown, but with his career numbers as well as making the Major League Baseball’s 2010s All-Decade team, winning a league MVP, finishing in the top three of MVP balloting three times, being a five-time All-Star and winning a Gold Glove award, he’s certainly worthy of being inducted into the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame and his playing career appreciated a bit more.
