PITTSBURGH — Usually a man of few words, Pirates manager John Russell didn't need many to describe Andrew McCutchen's three home runs last Saturday night.

"Fans are going to enjoy watching him play around here," Russell said.

He's right so far.

Since replacing the traded Nate McLouth in center field June 4, the 22-year-old McCutchen has hit .292, stolen nine bases in 10 attempts, hit seven home runs and five triples, made numerous circus catches and has thrown out six runners.

It's all in a day's work, as far as he's concerned.

"That's what I'm supposed to be doing," McCutchen said. "They didn't bring me up here to fail. If they did, I'd have been here a long time ago."

The Pirates resisted the temptation to bring McCutchen up last season — even when major league rosters expanded in September — despite his solid performance at Class AAA Indianapolis that included a .283 batting average and 34 stolen bases.

McCutchen hit well in spring training this year, but was sent to Indianapolis again.

"I had no problem with it," he said. "I still had some things to work on. As long as I performed, I knew I'd be up here at some point.

"Another full year at Triple-A wasn't going to do me any good. I figured that wasn't part of the plan."

As it turned out, the plan was to send a lot of veteran players packing, and to give a lot of young players a long look, Steve Pearce, Lastings Milledge, Delwyn Young and McCutchen, to name a few

It's McCutchen's star that is shining the brightest so far.

"Jack, Freddie, Nate, Adam — they were all good players and we miss them already," McCutchen said. "The focus was on them for a long time. Now the focus has to shift somewhere else.

"If people are more focused on me now than before, that's fine. But I'm just focused on my game and helping our team win more games," he added.

Among the National League rookie leaders in numerous categories, McCutchen still has two months to make a run at the NL Rookie of the Year Award.

"Not even on my mind," he said. "I don't look at any of that stuff."

He doesn't look to take a day off, either. In fact, he's started all 53 games in center field since McLouth was dealt to Atlanta.

Entering Tuesday night's game against Arizona, McCutchen was hitting just below .500 (17-for-35) with five home runs in his last nine games at PNC Park. He hit only four home runs with Indianapolis before joining the Pirates.

"I'm a gap guy, not a power guy," he said. "I've been squaring the ball up pretty well lately and it's been carrying out. Things are going well for me right now.

"I have no interest in taking a day off."

While McCuthen is 22, left fielder Milledge is only 24. They combined to go 12-for-24 with two doubles, three homers, 10 RBI and six runs scored as the one-two hitters in the batting order during a recent three-game stretch.

"I love that guy's talent," McCutchen said. "The prospect of he, I and a bunch of other high-end talent guys maturing together here is exciting. We all hope to be here for a very long time."

<b>Batting average: </b>Third at .292 (McGehee, Milwaukee, .319)<b>Home runs: </b>Tied for sixth with 7 (Rasmus, St. Louis, 11)<b>RBI: F</b>ourth with 32 (Parra, Arizona, 40)<b>Multiple-hit games: </b>First with 21<b>Runs scored: </b>Tied for third with 38 (Rasmus, St. Louis, 47)<b>Hits: </b>Tied for fourth with 66 (Fowler, Colorado, 81)<b>Total bases: </b>Fourth with 111 (Rasmus, St. Louis, 132)<b>Doubles: </b>Fourth with 14 (Fowler, Colorado, 21)<b>Triples: </b>Tied for second with 5 (Parra, Arizona, 7)<b>Stolen bases: </b>Third with 9 (Fowler, Colorado, 24)<b>On-base percentage: </b>Fifth at .350 (Hanigan, Cincinnati, .399)<b>Slugging percentage: </b>Second at .484 (McGehee, Milwaukee, .538)<b>Extra-base hits: </b>Third with 26 (Rasmus, St. Louis, 31)<b>Outfield assists: </b>Tied for first with 6 (Parra, Arizona)