Andrew McCutchen hits home run in first at-bat with Philadelphia Phillies

During his first career at-bat with the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday, Andrew McCutchen hit a home run.

While most of the excitement surrounding the Philadelphia Phillies over the last couple of weeks has been focused on Bryce Harper, Andrew McCutchen gave a quick reminder on Opening Day that he was an important addition during the offseason as well.

In what was considered an underrated signing in the offseason, McCutchen agreed to a deal with the Phillies to provide some depth to the outfield after spending last year as a member of the San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees.

Despite some baseball fans believing that McCutchen’s days of being an elite player were over, it was tough to ignore that he’s hit at least 20 home runs in each of his last eight seasons.

Take this into consideration with how much of a threat he can be with his speed each time on base, why wouldn’t the Phillies be interested in a player like McCutchen?

As expected, McCutchen would end up leading off on Opening Day Thursday when facing the Atlanta Braves to help put Philadelphia in the best position possible to start the new season off on a hot note.

Turns out, McCutchen couldn’t have asked for a better way to begin his Phillies career after going deep during his first at-bat in the first inning.

One game obviously isn’t going to determine the kind of season McCutchen is going to have in Philadelphia, but it was truly amazing to watch the veteran outfielder start the game off with a home run when considering all of the attention was focused on Harper.

Along with Harper, McCutchen was considered one of the major moves made by the Phillies during the offseason to help them become a serious contender in the National League for the first time in years after failing to record a winning record in each of the last seven seasons.

For McCutchen’s sake, here’s to hoping what took place on Thursday is just the first of many home runs throughout the 2019 season since he’s going to be a big factor in the success surrounding this team since competing in the National League is going to be far from easy.