Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen will remain with the team for another season.
The Pirates have exercised McCutchen’s $14.5 million option on Friday in the final year of his contract. In 2012, the All-Star signed a six-year $51.5 million deal.
“I know myself. I’ve been here long enough. I’ve played long enough. I’ve had ups and I’ve had downs,” McCutchen said to MLB.com. “I know how to handle those things and the experience behind all that comes with just playing the game. It’s just going out and doing my job.”
The 31-year-old finished this season hitting .279 with 28 home runs and 88 RBI. McCutchen has spent his entire career with the Pirates and was the 2013 NL MVP.
As one of baseball’s elite players, McCutchen, an outspoken Christian, shared in 2016, his desire to use the platform that baseball has given him, to give back to others and point people back to the God that created him.
“A lot of people feel that in order to make a difference, that you got to be this big person,” said McCutchen to Sports Spectrum. “You have to be this famous person. You got to have this much money. But the fact is, if you’re for God, you’re making a difference already. Just a small gesture goes such a far way.”
Cutch talked about how his faith in Jesus Christ is what he focuses on and when he deviates from that, things get all messed up.
“The more I started to concentrate on God, the less I started to concentrate on individual accolades and stats and baseball,” said McCutchen to Sports Spectrum. “I just started looking at things from a different spectrum. Reach toward God, look toward Him, the game is just different. I play it differently.”
McCutchen talks more about how he came to faith in Christ in a story from The Increase.
