\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAndrew McCutchen will be on the opening day roster for the Texas Rangers, who expect the 39-year-old former MVP outfielder to split some time at designated hitter, maybe play a few games in the field and be a mentor to their young, talented outfielders.Chris Young, the team\u2019s president of baseball operations, said Monday that McCutchen, who joined the team on a minor league contract less than three weeks ago, will be part of the 26-man squad when the Rangers begin the season Thursday at Philadelphia. The 2013 National League MVP and five-time All-Star more than a decade ago with Pittsburgh won a roster spot over Mark Canha, another veteran outfielder also in camp on a minor league deal.\u201cI was wrote off in a lot of places, honestly told to retire. But I knew deep down there was something in me that told me that there was still more in the tank and that I could continue to keep playing,\u201d McCutchen said. \u201cFor them giving me the opportunity … I\u2019m going to make sure that it\u2019s worth it from both of our ends.\u201dThe right-handed-hitting McCutchen, who will make $1.5 million playing in the majors this season, batted .444 (8 for 18) in seven spring training games, with three doubles, a home run and seven RBIs.\u201cThere were a number of factors that went into it, but ultimately we felt like Cutch earned it just with his performance,\u201d Young said.McCutchen is a .271 career hitter with 332 homers and 1,152 RBIs in 2,262 games over 17 big league seasons, all but five of those with the Pirates. He spent the past three seasons back in Pittsburgh, batting .239 with 13 homers and 57 RBIs last year when 120 of his 135 games were as the DH.\u201cThis is the beginning of for me to continue to keep doing what I\u2019ve been doing since I got here. And understanding that just because I\u2019m here doesn\u2019t mean that I\u2019m here to stay,\u201d McCutchen said. \u201cI have to remind myself of that every single day that I\u2019m out here and that I am on the field. Even the days that I\u2019m not starting, always knowing that there\u2019s a way to improve, and for my peers and teammates, there\u2019s something that I can do to be able to help them.\u201dThe Rangers have rising standouts Wyatt Langford in left field and Evan Carter in center, with veteran newcomer Brandon Nimmo in right after they acquired him from the Mets in a trade that sent second baseman Marcus Semien to New York.Carter was limited to 63 games last season because of injuries. Left-handed-hitting DH Joc Pederson missed about two months because of a broken hand after getting hit by a pitch.Pittsburgh drafted McCutchen in the first round in 2005 and promoted him in 2009 for his major league debut. McCutchen played his first nine years with the Pirates, making five straight All-Star teams from 2011-15. He played for San Francisco, the New York Yankees, Philadelphia and Milwaukee from 2018-22 before reuniting with the Pirates.\u201cHe came in and performed well right away. He fit right in in the clubhouse, can still play the outfield at times,\u201d new Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. \u201cI don\u2019t think you\u2019ll see him all the time out there, but if we need him, he\u2019ll play out there. But just a really valuable piece to either come off the bench in a high-leverage spot or also potentially start against left-handed pitching.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tARLINGTON, Va. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Andrew McCutchen will be on the opening day roster for the Texas Rangers, who expect the 39-year-old former MVP outfielder to split some time at designated hitter, maybe play a few games in the field and be a mentor to their young, talented outfielders.<\/p>\n
Chris Young, the team\u2019s president of baseball operations, said Monday that McCutchen, who joined the team on a minor league contract less than three weeks ago, will be part of the 26-man squad when the Rangers begin the season Thursday at Philadelphia. The 2013 National League MVP and five-time All-Star more than a decade ago with Pittsburgh won a roster spot over Mark Canha, another veteran outfielder also in camp on a minor league deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was wrote off in a lot of places, honestly told to retire. But I knew deep down there was something in me that told me that there was still more in the tank and that I could continue to keep playing,\u201d McCutchen said. \u201cFor them giving me the opportunity … I\u2019m going to make sure that it\u2019s worth it from both of our ends.\u201d<\/p>\n
The right-handed-hitting McCutchen, who will make $1.5 million playing in the majors this season, batted .444 (8 for 18) in seven spring training games, with three doubles, a home run and seven RBIs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a number of factors that went into it, but ultimately we felt like Cutch earned it just with his performance,\u201d Young said.<\/p>\n
McCutchen is a .271 career hitter with 332 homers and 1,152 RBIs in 2,262 games over 17 big league seasons, all but five of those with the Pirates. He spent the past three seasons back in Pittsburgh, batting .239 with 13 homers and 57 RBIs last year when 120 of his 135 games were as the DH.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the beginning of for me to continue to keep doing what I\u2019ve been doing since I got here. And understanding that just because I\u2019m here doesn\u2019t mean that I\u2019m here to stay,\u201d McCutchen said. \u201cI have to remind myself of that every single day that I\u2019m out here and that I am on the field. Even the days that I\u2019m not starting, always knowing that there\u2019s a way to improve, and for my peers and teammates, there\u2019s something that I can do to be able to help them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Rangers have rising standouts Wyatt Langford in left field and Evan Carter in center, with veteran newcomer Brandon Nimmo in right after they acquired him from the Mets in a trade that sent second baseman Marcus Semien to New York.<\/p>\n
Carter was limited to 63 games last season because of injuries. Left-handed-hitting DH Joc Pederson missed about two months because of a broken hand after getting hit by a pitch.<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh drafted McCutchen in the first round in 2005 and promoted him in 2009 for his major league debut. McCutchen played his first nine years with the Pirates, making five straight All-Star teams from 2011-15. He played for San Francisco, the New York Yankees, Philadelphia and Milwaukee from 2018-22 before reuniting with the Pirates.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came in and performed well right away. He fit right in in the clubhouse, can still play the outfield at times,\u201d new Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. \u201cI don\u2019t think you\u2019ll see him all the time out there, but if we need him, he\u2019ll play out there. But just a really valuable piece to either come off the bench in a high-leverage spot or also potentially start against left-handed pitching.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrew McCutchen will be on the opening day roster for the Texas Rangers, who expect the 39-year-old former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[1151,5,3246,2266,81865,5213,20755,4,1690,10,776,64,149,1830,81864,235,4833,749],"class_list":{"0":"post-639979","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-andrew-mccutchen","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-chris-young","11":"tag-evan-carter","12":"tag-few-game","13":"tag-field","14":"tag-minor-league-contract","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-pirates","18":"tag-pittsburgh","19":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","20":"tag-rangers","21":"tag-roster","22":"tag-season-thursday","23":"tag-team","24":"tag-time","25":"tag-week"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116281914926670391","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}