The MLB 2,000-hit club now has 291 members. Pittsburgh Pirates’ outfielder/designated hitter Andrew McCutchen entered that illustrious group with a first-inning single off Carlos Carrasco of the New York Mets:
It was interesting to see McCutchen’s 2,000th hit come off the Mets, as his first MLB hit also came against that team (and for the Pirates) back on June 4, 2009. And that first hit also came at PNC Park. Since then, the 36-year-old McCutchen has played for the Pirates (2009-17, 2023-present), the San Francisco Giants (2018), the New York Yankees (2018), the Philadelphia Phillies (2019-21), and the Milwaukee Brewers. He becomes just the fifth active player to reach 2,000 hits, joining Miguel Cabrera, Nelson Cruz, Joey Votto and Elvis Andrus. And that led to quite the number of tributes:
I was out here for Andrew McCutchen’s first hit, 14 years and 1 week ago.
Only felt right to be here for Hit #2000. Way to go, Cutch.
pic.twitter.com/Hgkax2bS1R — James Santelli (@JamesSantelli) June 11, 2023
McCutchen (seen at top doffing his batting helmet after that 2,000th hit) grew up in Fort Meade, Florida, and shone in baseball, football, and track there. He committed to the University of Florida, but the Pirates drafted him 11th overall in the first round of the 2005 MLB Draft, and he opted to sign with them instead of heading to college. He then worked his way through their minor-league system and made his MLB debut in June 2009, recording that aforementioned hit off the Mets.
Heading into Sunday’s game, McCutchen was hitting .264/.379/.425 this season with eight home runs, and was producing 1.1 wins above replacement as per Baseball Reference. He batted .237/.316/.384 with the Brewers last season, so this has been a step forward. It will be interesting to see what his full-season totals wind up looking like, but he’s certainly been promising to this point. And we’ll see just how high he can run his MLB hits totals.
[MLB.com; photo from Charles LeClaire/USA Today Sports]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.