Philadelphia Phillies: Andrew McCutchen is starting to heat up

After an abysmal start to the season, Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Andrew McCutchen is beginning to heat up.

The offseason heading into the 2019 MLB season was a rather big one for the Philadelphia Phillies. The team traded for the best catcher in baseball J.T Realmuto, signed Bryce Harper to a massive long term contract, and the team also traded a few pieces for middle infielder Jean Segura from the Seattle Mariners.

All of those moves were evidence the team was ready to take the next step out of the dark abyss that was their rebuild. However, there is one move that often gets overlooked when you peak back at that offseason. That of course, is the decision to sign outfielder Andrew McCutchen to a three-year $50 million dollar contract.

The impact from Cutch was felt almost immediately last year, as he literally led off the 2019 season with a long ball. The production continued, until Cutch injured his knee in a rundown during a game with the San Diego Padres on June 3rd of last season. To that point, the Philles leadoff hitter was enjoying a fantastic season, as was the rest of the ball club. Cutch had slashed .256/.378/.834 with 10 home runs 29 runs batted in and an impressive 45 runs scored.

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After the injury, the Philadelphia Phillies had the bottom fall out from underneath them. After starting the year 33-26 before the injury, the Phils’ finished the year 48-55 after losing their left fielder.

Fast forward to this year, and McCutchen got off to an incredibly slow start; going 1 for 18 at the dish to begin this hybrid 2020 season. Through his first 12 games, Cutch slashed .167/.234/.425 with 0 home runs, 4 runs batted in, and a measly 1 extra base hit.

Since this horrid start, it appears Andrew McCutchen has turned a corner. Over his last 13 games, the Philadelphia Phillies outfielder has slashed .339/.373/.909 with 3 long balls and 14 runs batted in. Simply put, the difference is night and day.

Is it any coincidence that the Phils’ were 4-8 through those first 12 games and are a much improved 8-5 over the last 13? It is fair to say Cutch has made a huge impact.

Entering Saturdays game with Atlanta, the Philadelphia Phillies currently sit at 13-14 on the year and miraculously sit in a playoff spot, even after all the bad things that have happened this year.

A healthy Andrew McCutchen will go a long way towards ending the franchises ongoing eight year playoff drought. As we have seen the past couple weeks, as he goes, so do the Phils’.