2. Andrew McCutchen – June 4th 2009
The 2005 MLB Draft is one of the most talent filled drafts in MLB history. The first round featured nine All Stars, two MVPs and a plethora of superstar players. The Pirates had the 11th overall pick in the draft and used it on a small center fielder from Fort Meade, Florida named Andrew McCutchen and for the first time in a long time, the Pirates had a superstar prospect in the wings.
McCutchen spent nearly four full seasons in the minors before his call-up and funny enough there was some anger around it. One day before his debut, the Pirates traded All Star Nate McLouth to the Atlanta Braves and left a lot of fans feeling very angry. People forget that in the days before super high speed internet, it wasn’t easy to keep tabs on talented prospects, so despite being a first round pick and showing all the potential in the world, some fans kind of forgot about McCutchen. It didn’t take him long to make them forget about McLouth.
In his first game McCutchen went 2-4 with a walk, one RBI, three runs scored and a stolen base. He showed all the flashes of brilliance that would eventually turn him into one of the game’s best players. The MLB Draft is kind of a crapshoot as you really don’t always know what you’re getting, especially when selecting high school players, but Andrew McCutchen really lived up the hype and is one of the greatest players in Pittsburgh Pirates history.
1. Roberto Clemente – April 17th 1955
To me, almost any list about anything great with the Pittsburgh Pirates could involve “The Great One.” Clemente is the most notable player in Pirates’ history and one of the greatest athletes ever. It’s hard to imagine the Pirates knew what they were getting when they selected Clemente in the Rule-V draft from the Brooklyn Dodgers on November 22nd 1954. He was an undersized player with a good arm, but hadn’t shown much with the bat with the Dodgers organization.
In 87 games with the Montreal Royals in 1954 Clemente hit .257/.286/.372/.657 with two home runs and 12 RBIs. He most likely projected as an extra outfielder and the Dodgers left him unprotected in the Rule-V draft. That is a decision they would come to regret.
The actual debut game was nothing special as Clemente went 1-4 with a run scored, and his rookie season was really nothing special either as he hit .255/.284/.382/.666 with 121 hits, but Clemente got a bit better I would say.
He finished his career with 3000 hits and is still the gold standard of what a ballplayer should be off the field. There is no way the Pirates knew they were getting a hall of fame player when the selected him, but he grew into one of the most iconic athletes in Pittsburgh sports history and there are plenty of calls to retire his number 21 league wide as he was to Latin American players what Jackie Robinson was to African American players. Not bad for a Rule-V draft pick, right?
That is my list of all time great Pirates prospect debuts, what’s yours? Feel free to comment on this article or send me a tweet. I would love to hear your top five and see how it compares to mine.
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Featured Image Credit – Daniel Decker Photography
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