'It feels good:' A confident McCutchen hits first spring homer

BRADENTON, Fla. -- The first person to greet Andrew McCutchen at his locker was Ji-Man Choi.

"You're welcome," Choi said.

McCutchen laughed. Originally it was supposed to be Choi's day to be the designated hitter, but McCutchen wanted to get back into a major-league game after sitting out a bit with some right elbow discomfort. Choi obliged, McCutchen got the start and this 2-0 Jake Jewell fastball was hit onto the boardwalk in right-center:

"That was a no-doubter," McCutchen said. "You can get away with a lot of cheap ones in spring training. Wind's blowing out 25 mph straight out, you hit off the end [of the bat] and pop it up but it goes out. But when you hit one that you know's going to be one, it feels good."

McCutchen's two run shot was the difference maker in the Pirates' 4-3 win over the Phillies at LECOM Park Tuesday. But what's more important to McCutchen than the home run itself was how he hit it.

That line drive to right-center is a vintage McCutchen home run, one that he has strayed from in recent years. He began to pull the ball so much that he ended up being one of the most heavily-shifted right-handed hitters in the game last year.

With some tweaks in his approach McCutchen is hoping to drive more balls to center and right-center again.

"For me, that was always my bread and butter," McCutchen said. "To be able to do that lets me know I'm in a really good spot. I felt like at times I could do it last year. But this year, it's something I really worked on to get back to. It's nice to be able to do that, hit the ball the way that I did. The homer of course feels good. Hopefully just maintain it. Don't feel like I have to do anything more than that."

That wasn't McCutchen's only good swing of the day, either, lining a base hit in the first to show that his spring training bruises -- the elbow and nursing his hand after getting hit earlier this month -- aren't impacting his swing.

"The one that stood out even more was the base hit that he got back through the middle because that ball was up in the zone and he had to get on top of it," Derek Shelton said. "Earlier in the Spring, that was a ball that was beating him a little bit, but when he’s driving the ball to right-center like he is, that’s a really good sign."

If he can continue to do that, then perhaps 2023 can be the bounce back year McCutchen has been searching for. He made clear in his introductory press conference that he is not here for a farewell tour. He believes he can help the team win.

He also knows for that to happen, he needs to perform better than he has the past few years.

"My last six years haven't been the years that I have particularly been really pleased with," McCutchen said. "I think I can do better than what I've done. I don't care about what numbers or projected numbers or what they say about age. Who cares? I know in the back of my mind what I'm capable of doing. I'm here to be able to showcase that. I feel very confident in what I can do with myself, personally, and I just hope that personal things can help the team as a whole."

More swings and hard contact to the opposite field like Tuesday's and he could be onto something. For now, he'll settle for enjoying home run No. 1.

"It was cool to just do it, hear the fans, tip my cap," he said. "Yeah, it was nice."

MORE FROM THE GAME

• JT Brubaker continues to be a strikeout machine, punching out six over his five innings Tuesday to bring his spring totals to 26 over 17 1/3 innings.

The slider is the whiff pitch, but he also got 11 called strikes on his 24 sinkers Tuesday. He hasn't shied from using it up in the zone, and hitters are still taking those pitches.

"Definitely been locating it really well away to righties and in to lefties," Brubaker said. "Been able to use the height on it. The visual of it, it’s hard to swing at. Ball to strike, if a hitter sees ball out of hand, more than likely, they’re good. They’re already making that choice to shut it down. We’ll see. It plays more with the slider. The more I execute that, the more the slider will come into play."

Brubaker allowed two runs on four hits and a solo shot on a front-hip sinker. 

Dauri Moretta, Yohan Ramirez and Yerry De Los Santos each threw scoreless innings in relief.

• After trailing all game, Drew Maggi tied things up with a base hit through the left side of the infield to plate Canaan Smith-Njigba, and Chris Owings came home to score the winner on a wild pitch three batters later.

• Robert Stephenson made his first spring appearance in the sixth inning, allowing two singles and two walks with a wild pitch while allowing one run. While wild, he did ramp up his fastball to 97 mph.

"Everything felt good physically," Stephenson said. "That’s the thing I care about the most."

However, even though he's pitching in games again, there's a good chance that elbow injury is going to require him to start the year on the injured list since he got a late start.

"I would say we’re leaning towards that being what it is," Shelton said on the possibility Stephenson starts on the IL. "He’s going to throw again this week and we’ll have a better indication after that."

* The Pirates made another batch of cuts shortle after the game, optioning right-handers Luis Ortiz and Ramirez to Class AAA Indianapolis and re- assigning right-handers Cody Bolton and Carmen Mlodzinski, left-hander Daniel Zamora, outfielder Chavez Young, infielder Andres Alvarez and catcher Carter Bins to minor-league camp.

There's hardly a surprise in this group. Ramirez has not pitched well this spring and Ortiz isn't fully built up after pitching in the World Baseball Classic (and he likely was going to start the year in the minors anyway). Young's best showing was at the WBC, where he stole five bases, while Bolton and Mlodzinski had some ups and downs adjusting to a bullpen role.

There are now 40 players in major league camp.