Why does Andrew McCutchen suck now?

He looked like he was headed to Cooperstown two years ago. Now he's terrible. Batting .231/.311/.413 this year after batting .256/.336/.430 a year ago.

What the hell?

Andrew McCutchen Has a Plan, Is Running Out of Time | FanGraphs Baseball

 

Proper style is Andrew McCutchen -- HOFer?

It's too bad. He and the Pirates' resurgence were one of the great stories in MLB.

Then h went all Samson and cut his hair. Shoulda kept the dreads.

 

Because he's on my fantasy team?

 

Mainly it's so OOP has something to bitch about for the next 10 years whether the Pirates keep him or get rid of him.

 

Nice to know I still own that space in LTL's head.

 

They wasted that window of opportunity, in part because ownership insisted on going the cheap route. This current team is a mess for reasons beyond McCutchen's struggles. Off-field issues such as Marte's PED suspension and Jung Ho Kang's legal issues took away two key players. Maybe the next cycle of talent will fare better.

 

His line drive percentage is down from 33 percent to 21 percent over two years ago, and his Batting average on balls in play is only .250, whereas it was otherworldly from 2012-2015: .375, .353., 355., 339.

Last year it was .297, a little below the norm, which is usually around .300.

So he's not hitting the ball as hard and he's not having as much luck.

 

He's been pretty hot the past week or so.

 

The Fangraphs story I linked says that he believes he isolated the mechanical flaw. (He actually told this to MLB.com.) I would like to see him get back to his old self. I really like him.

 

I saw a docuspecial on him, I think with MLB Network or maybe it was 30 for 30. I dunno. But he came from real poverty and seems like a genuinely good dude.

 

He does have a history of awful starts, though this one has lasted longer than most.

Edit: Meant to go back and add to this yesterday. In 2015, for example, he was hitting under .200 with two home runs May 6 and dropped back down to .225 May 19. He finished that year with a .292/.408/.488 slash line and 23 home runs.