Editor's Note: Offense might be at its lowest point in nearly 35 years, but a small subset of hitters continues to thrive. They've achieved solid results and, in some cases, have even improved their numbers. In an era of pitching dominance, what could other hitters learn from their offensive excellence? We focus on four exemplary hitters -- Jose Abreu, Jose Altuve, Victor Martinez and Andrew McCutchen -- as they talk about their successful approaches at the plate.
In this Q&A, Jayson Stark talks with McCutchen, the Pittsburgh Pirates All-Star center fielder.
What's your daily routine as a hitter?
I get up. I go to the (batting) cage. I get my work there in the cage. I do some side flips, slow. Really-under-control side flips. I have three drills. I do that one. I do an offset drill, to where (the hitting coach) is doing a front flip to me, but the front flip is offset to my left side. So he's throwing at an angle that's coming from almost behind me. So I really have to focus on hitting the ball to the right side of the cage. That's the only way I'm going to be able to get the flight that I want, if I stay in there and really focus on traveling the ball to the right side of the cage. Then, last, I just do some short overhand (BP). He doesn't get all the way back, like normal BP. He gets maybe halfway. Not too far, maybe 20 feet. Then, he just throws me some short overhand (pitches), and it helps me just stay short to the ball and just to really focus on staying through it, short through it. Those are really the three I do on an every-day basis. In spring training, it's a little different than the season. In spring training, it's 8 a.m. (when) I'm doing that. But during the season, it's normally somewhere around 3 p.m. or so. At home, we have BP at 4, so I'm normally there at 3, getting the work in. And on the road, it's different as well, time-wise.
What do you think the key is to your swing being effective?
I'm very quick to the ball. There's not a huge margin for error there. I don't have a big, loopy swing. I get myself in position to where I'm ready to hit every single pitch, so regardless of who's pitching or what's thrown, I'm ready to hit. And being really short and quick to the ball makes me a really effective hitter. I'm able to use my hands, use my quickness of bat and be able to fight balls off that may seem like they're by me. I can just fight them off really quick and just keep myself ready for the next one.
How do you mentally prepare to hit?
You have to really simplify the game as much as possible. And that's the biggest key, is simplifying things. The art of hitting is difficult already, so you get all your work in the cage. You do everything, get all that thinking (done) there. You get your work in: I need to focus on this, focus on that. Then take that out in batting practice: Focus on this, focus on that. Then, when the game starts, you just go hit. And that's really what I focus on. I get all my work before the game. So when the game starts, it's like, "OK, I'm ready. I did everything I could. Now just go out and hit." And that's it. I'm not thinking about what (the pitcher is) throwing, what's coming. Just when he throws it, you see it, you hit it, and that's what I try and do.
So you're not playing the game out or playing your at-bats out in your mind?
No, I'm not. There's a lot of stuff that goes on, depending on the situation, depending on who's hitting. But at the same time, I know what I'm capable of hitting. I know what I can't hit. I know my weaknesses, my strengths, and I know that by practice. I know this is what I can do. This is what I shouldn't do. So when the game starts, I'm just digging my feet in and really trying not to do much of anything. Just go out there and hit.
What's the biggest adjustment you've had to make as a big league hitter?
Just trusting my hands more to where I'm driving the ball over to the right side of the field. That was a big key for me. Not only driving it over there but driving it with some authority and some power. I know that comes with age and learning myself a little more, getting a little older, getting stronger. But I was able to learn to use my hands, use the strength that I have and be able to hit the ball to the right side, so there can be no more holes in my game. So once I got that down, I became, I believe, more of a complete hitter, as opposed to a guy who just pulls the ball a lot, hits for power (to) left-center over to left, and everything over to the right side was just a little base hit. Now, it's, "OK, he can drive the ball out to all parts of the field." And that definitely took some adjusting. For me, it was really a big thing, that I really focused on a lot in the minor leagues before I got to the big leagues, but it still wasn't perfected. And it won't ever be perfected. But it's just to the point to where I know I'm capable of doing it. I'm comfortable doing it. And really, when I was in the minors, before I got to the majors, every day I would go out and I would work on curveballs. I would work on the curveball machine, and all I would focus on was staying on that curveball machine and driving the ball to the right side of the field, driving it to right field, driving it to right field. And that's what I did, every single day for two weeks. For 14 days, that's all I did, was just hit off the curveball machine and focus on hitting the ball to the right side. And that's when I really started to know I'm capable, I had the power, I've got the strength and now just trust myself, trust my hands, trust my body, that I could do it.
When you're in a slump, what is the typical cause of your slumps?
Mental, definitely, because the game itself doesn't change at all. Your swing doesn't change at all. Most of the time, it's what's going on in your mind that's really changing. And that can really start when you wake up in the morning, honestly. And then you have to be at the field, but it could be something that's really bothering you off the field that, when you take that on the field, you're not necessarily focused all the way. I'm not saying that's necessarily when you get your slump, but I'm just saying that's why people can slump. It's not just things that happen on the field. So I think for me, it's just mental, focusing more mechanically on what feels good. What am I doing different and what I was doing when I was on, then looking at things, you know. Your mechanics, looking at your hands, your legs, at your feet. You start doing all that, and then you're taking that out on the field. As opposed to doing what I said, just going out and "OK, I've been working on it. Now go hit." So a lot of times, that's what happens. And so I'm trying to teach myself to have the exact same plan every single day, wash it off so that whatever happened I did everything I could, and just move on.
It surprises me to hear you say "focus" is one of the causes because you're one of the most focused players I've ever seen.
Yeah, I definitely try not to let it be (the cause), but one of my problems, at times, is I am a perfectionist. So I definitely want things to be as perfect as possible. And I'm not a person who goes in the cage and hits for hours. I'm not that type of person. But I will study myself over and over and over, or I will look at video over and over and over. I will put side shots (on the screen), one over here when I was going well, one over here when I wasn't going as well, and I'll sync them together. I'll do all those things, to where I'm putting all these things in my head, to where it's like, "OK, I need to do this, I need to do this and I'll work on this in the cage. And OK, I'll get myself back to where I was." So a lot of times, that can work against me because if you fill your head up with all that, it sometimes gets in the way of your approach during the game.
"So much is mental because we can all swing a bat. It's a game of failure, so you've got to learn how to fail. You've got to learn how to deal with it. You've got to learn how to get out of it and just keep moving forward." Andrew McCutchen
How much video do you study, both of yourself and the opposing pitcher?
I study quite a bit. I'm not the type of person that just wakes up out of bed and will go and play. There are definitely some talented people who can go and do that. And I feel I could, but then again, I feel like I'd be telling myself I'm not prepared. So I try and prepare myself as much as possible. So I watch quite a bit of video. I try and stay away from (watching) myself more than anything, because I know what I need to do. I might see a swing that I had, a swing that I took, and ... even if it was a foul ball or if it was a line drive, I'll go, "That felt good, so let me go watch that and see what I did." I try and stay away from (watching) the bad swings, and I try and stay away from the strikeouts, because those are the things I don't want to fill my head with. I want to fill my head with good things. So I study to that point, but opposing pitchers? At this point, I've faced quite a few of the pitchers that are up, so I know what they have. So I'll watch a little bit. Some guys like to watch video of that pitcher facing them against themselves. Say, for instance, (Adam) Wainwright. Like, if I had to watch video of last year, what Wainwright did to me. I don't like to do that, because, again, then I'd be kind of contradicting (the motto of) "Just go out and let's go hit." But if I haven't seen someone and I'm not familiar with how they throw, I'll definitely watch some video on them. (With someone such as Wainwright) I'll watch his last start. Something like that. So you'll see what he did and say, "OK, what is he doing now, as opposed to last year?" So I'll go, "OK, let's watch his last start." For instance, (at the end of camp) we won't be able to see Johnny Cueto's last start because he'll most likely be the Opening Day starter for Cincinnati. So I won't be able to watch video from this season. So I'll be able to pull up video from maybe one of his last starts from spring training. So I'll watch that to see what he's doing. But I like to kind of look at the things that they did previously so I can mentally prep myself.
How much do you use scouting reports?
I look at it. It's a good reference. But for myself personally, I don't look at it, as opposed to, How hard does a guy throw? What does he have? If he has a fastball, sinker, cutter, slider or changeup, OK, let me see all of his pitches, see what he has. If I've never seen that person before, that's when I go back to reference, to scouting reports. When someone comes out of the bullpen, if I've never seen him before, what does he throw? All right, "Fastball is 92-94. Has a little sinker." OK, now I know. So more of the generic "Does it sink? Does it not? Is it straight?" So when I step in the box, I know, "OK, his ball sinks a little bit." Or he throws straight fastballs. Those things, mostly.
You don't want to know that when this guy gets behind 2-1 to right-handed hitters he throws his cutter 68 percent of the time?
No, I definitely don't, because a lot of the time, you know, so many guys will tell you that will happen. What we don't like, what we hate the most, is when we're sitting on a pitch and we get something else. We're thinking, "All right, it's 2-1. He's throwing a slider" and you get a fastball right down the middle. And then you're like, "Man, I was thinking about the scouting report." It's not like he does that 100 percent of the time. There's still another 32 percent that this guy can throw you a fastball. So a lot of times, I don't like to look at that because I'm a fastball hitter. So my mindset is: Be ready for a fastball, and if he throws anything else, I know I can adjust to it.
What's the best hitting advice you ever got, who gave it to you and when?
I've had quite a few people who have come into my life, and throughout my career and in the minors. Brandon Moore was my Double-A hitting coach, and Tim Leiper, who's now the third-base coach for the Blue Jays, he was the manager of our Double-A team in Altoona. I had both of them come up to me quite a bit. I was struggling there my first year in Double-A, my first full season in Double-A, in 2007. It was an adjustment for me, so I did a lot of work. A lot of work. I worked a lot. I was hitting maybe .200 for the (first) half. So I sat down with them, and they talked to me. They pulled me into the office, and basically, they were just talking about the people they come in contact with, people they've seen grow up and become these great hitters. He just basically told me, you know, that "Whatever I'm thinking right now, if it's any type of negative, don't think that way because I'm a very special player. I'm a very special hitter." And then he gave me a story about Jimmy Rollins coming through the minors, talking about him. And you know, Jimmy Rollins is a person I really admired, because he's not the biggest guy, and 2007 was the year he ended up winning the MVP and basically just talking about Jimmy Rollins and what he had to go through, the things that he had to endure. And I definitely think that was able to kind of motivate me and make me feel like I'm able to do it, and I can do it. So it was just more of a pep talk than a hit talk. But overall, that's why I was in the office -- because I wasn't hitting too well. So that was it. ... You know, so much is mental because we can all swing a bat. A lot of us can swing a bat. You'll see a guy who can hit a ball 500 feet, but then you'll say, "Hey, why isn't this guy in the majors? Why isn't this guy here?" And I think a lot of it really is so mental in the sense that if you're not good up here (in the head), it's not going to pan out too well for you at this, because so much of this level is mental. It's a game of failure, so you've got to learn how to fail. You've got to learn how to deal with it. You've got to learn how to get out of it and just keep moving forward.
Which individual stat means the most to you and why?
Wins. (Laughs.) But individual? Oh man. I guess for me, I don't want to say that it means the most because, selfishly, I don't want to feel like that. But I guess homers. I enjoy them. I love them. I love hitting them. Think about it. You have 600 plate appearances a year. You're lucky if you hit 20. Like, for myself, if I hit 20, for this point, for this era of baseball, that's pretty good. And I love hitting home runs. I'm not just going up there trying to hit them, but when they do happen, they're really awesome. And just to be the guy that people (say), "He's going to be projected to do this, as this type of player." When I was 18, people (were saying) "Oh, he may hit you 10 to 15 home runs when he gets to the major league level." And for me to develop into the hitter I've developed into, to be able to hit 20 to 30, it's kind of one of those things where I'm looking at people, going, "10 to 15, huh?" It makes me feel pretty good. So it's something I really love. It's more than the number. It's more like just, "OK." It's unpredictable.
Who's your favorite hitter to watch?
Now? Miguel Cabrera. Definitely. He's a guy that's unbelievable when he's hitting. I just really enjoy to watch him hit, because he seems like the type of player who has that mentality like, "All right, I'm just going to go out and hit." He has a lot of fun while he's doing it, it seems like. It's not so much up here (in the head). It's more him just going out and sitting back and going, "All right, you throw it. I'm going to hit it." He's that person (where) "You mess up. I'm going to make you pay." So I just really love to watch him hit, how he hits. There's no figuring him out, and that's what's so great. There's no holes in his swing. You can throw him down and away, and he can hit it out to right field. You can throw him up and in, and he can turn his hands and pull it down the line for a homer. He's just that type of person. He's just an all-around great hitter. There's just some things you can't teach. A lot of people say that things are teachable. Yeah, things are teachable, but that you cannot teach. Like Mike Trout -- you can't teach that. You can't teach that type of swing. You can try. You can try and mimic. But the way he's shaped, the type of swing that he has, his body, like, those things he's gifted with, blessed with -- you can't teach that. So it's great to be able just to sit back and watch those guys perform, because there's no (other) Miguel Cabrera. There's no (other) Mike Trout. They're in their own category. So it's really cool just to see it.
So when you say you watch them, if you get home from the park and their game is on, you mean there's no going to the refrigerator when they're up?
Oh, no. it's sitting down watching. It's seeing what they're doing, their approach. It's watching those things. I mean, I watched a game one night, late at night, it was on the West Coast and Mike Trout was playing against the White Sox, and Chris Sale was basically throwing a shutout. And Mike Trout was up. And Chris Sale just threw him some unbelievable pitches. And Mike Trout just kept fighting them off, fighting them off, fighting them off. And then he threw him a changeup -- basically down at his knees -- and he golfed that thing to left-center and hit it out for a home run. And just to watch that whole approach, that whole at-bat, was really unbelievable because Chris Sale is one of the best in the game and Mike Trout is as well. So it was cool just to sit back and watch, just to see that unfold and to be like, "This is very special seeing something like that."