2012 National League All Star Selections: Pittsburgh Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen
Major League Baseball announced last week that Pittsburgh Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen has made it to the National League All Star team for the second straight year.
McCutchen has remained one of Pirates’ key players over the last couple of years and he is also the first Pirates’ out-fielder to be named to the All Star team for two consecutive years since Jason Bay accomplished that in 2005.
The 2009 Rookie of the Year Award winner is having his career best season this year. His average of .362 in first half of the season is quite astonishing. In 81 games played, he has hit 18 home-runs with 60 RBI’s and 14 stolen bases. His On Base Percentage
of .414 is also considerably higher than his career OBP.
Credit should be given to him for coming up with match winning efforts on a regular basis. His consistency has played a key role in Pirates’ finishing first on the National League Central Division before the All Star Break.
It will be interesting to see if the centre-fielder can put up a strong show at the All Star Game in Kansas City on Tuesday, July 10 to help the National League win for the second straight year.
“We just have a better team ... We have more depth in our rotation. We’ve got more options in our bullpen. We’ve got a number of guys who can pitch multiple innings. Offensively, we had only one player (soon-to-be-All Star Andrew McCutchen) meet or exceed
expectations for two months and we were able to keep our heads above water,” Manager Clint Hurdle said in an interview.
Joel Hanrahan is the other Pirates player who has made it to the Midsummer Classic. The right handed pitcher has allowed just 20 hits in 34 innings this season. His strike-out percentage is also amongst the highest in the National League.
With a 4-0 record and 2.38 ERA, he secured enough fan votes to be named to the National League All Star team for the second straight year, becoming the first Pirates closer to achieve such a feat since Mike Williams did it in 2003.
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