Pirates' McCutchen earns salute
Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen was named the 2009 Major League Rookie of the Year by Baseball America.
McCutchen, 23, hit .286 with 26 doubles, nine triples, 12 home runs, 54 RBI and 22 stolen bases in 108 games with Pittsburgh after joining the club on June 4. He led all National League rookies with 47 extra-base hits and ranked second among NL rookies in multihit games (36), runs, walks and total bases (204).
In addition, he ranked third in RBI, third in stolen bases, third in slugging percentage (.471), third in doubles, fifth in batting and fourth in on-base percentage among NL rookies.
Pittsburgh's first-round selection (11th pick overall) in the 2005 draft, McCutchen led off all 108 games he played and ranked third among NL leadoff hitters in RBI and fifth in slugging percentage.
He also ranked third among NL leadoff hitters in home runs behind Jimmy Rollins (18) and Alfonso Soriano (14). McCutchen also hit four home runs leading off the first inning — the first Pittsburgh rookie to do so and the first Bucco overall with four since Al Martin hit six in 1999.
With the Pirates this season, McCutchen was the first Pittsburgh rookie to have three hitting streaks of 10 or more games since Richie Zisk in 1973 (10, 10 and 12 games). He also hit .600 with the bases loaded to rank third among National League players behind Todd Helton (.625) and Kaz Matsui (.625).
