The Phillies have themselves an Andrew McCutchen problem

The Philadelphia Phillies biggest roster hole at the moment is pretty obvious – they’re getting historically bad production out of their center field position. And while that void deserves the highest level of attention (and criticism) over the next couple of days/weeks, the Phillies have an almost equally as concerning hole on their roster, one that isn’t getting a ton of mainstream attention.

Andrew McCutchen, out in left field.

Signed to monster three-year/$50 million contract by Matt Klentak, Andy MacPhail and the previous front office regime, the McCutchen experience has been an up-and-down one. He started off his Philadelphia career in 2019 operating as an elite leadoff hitter, before tearing his ACL on an awkward tie up between first and second base just 50 games into the season.

Returning to action the following season in 2020, Cutch’s batting numbers were pretty much down across the board and he looked noticeably slow when asked to play in the outfield. However, he finished the year with 10 home runs, leaving many to believe that a full extra year worth of rehab would help him return to a respectable level of form.

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McCutchen had a very productive spring down in Clearwater, but not an ounce of it has translated over to the regular season. Through 15 games and 62 plate appearances, Cutch is currently slashing .157/.306/.255. Outside of the CF conglomerate, he has without question been the Philadelphia Phillies biggest weak spot this season. Throw in the fact that he’s still the team’s go-to leadoff hitter, and his lackluster results have only been that much more heightened.

Looking at some of his advanced batting numbers, Cutch’s biggest issue this season has been his inability to simply get the ball out of the infield. His ground ball % is at 60.5, almost 20 percentage points higher than his career average. His fly ball % is correspondently down, his strikeout rate is up, and his home run % is expectantly down as well.

Not only is Cutch posting career worsts pretty much across the board when it comes to these advanced hitting metrics, but he’s notably putting up worse numbers than the respective MLB averages in each category. His defensive WAR is currently in the negative threshold as well, likely marking the second season in a row where the veteran outfielder will finish with a dWAR below zero.

Outside of Bryce Harper, Jean Segura, and J.T. Realmuto, pretty much every bat in the Philadelphia Phillies lineup hasn’t looked good through the first couple of weeks. The CF position is an absolute disaster, Bohm hasn’t been good at 3B, and the bench has problems that would need a whole nother article to highlight. McCutchen isn’t the only player struggling at the moment, but his $20 million salary and importance to the lineup (the leadoff spot) makes his offensive woes that much more significant.

McCutchen is giving the Philadelphia Phillies league-worst production out in LF.

The Phillies overall outfield depth behind McCutchen is obviously very weak, but someone like Brad Miller should be a candidate to steal some reps out in LF. He’s logged close to 200 innings in LF during his MLB career, and he’s coming off a very impressive 2020 campaign with the St. Louis Cardinals. He’s not a one-for-one replacement (Miller in the leadoff would be ill advised), but he has some extra “pop” to his bat that would make up for a lower batting average.

While McCutchen is rather beloved by the Philly faithful due to his fun-filled personality, the brutal reality of the situation is that we’d all be talking about him in a far different light if it wasn’t for his monstrous salary. A 34 year outfielder batting .157 (who also can’t play defense!) is typically viewed as a DFA candidate.

Cutch is a former MVP who’s had all sorts of success around baseball, so maybe there’s a chance he can figure things out moving forward. However, “Father Time” will always remain undefeated, and there’s a pretty high possibility McCutchen’s time as a productive MLB player is simply up.