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Andrew McCutchen will report to spring training next week with the same team as last year, but he will play a new position.
On Sunday, the Pirates announced McCutchen will move from center to right field in 2017. Starling Marte will take over in center field, and Gregory Polanco will be shifted to left.
McCutchen, a Gold Glove winner and former NL MVP, never has played in right field during his 12-year professional career. The position change comes at the end of an offseason in which the Pirates mulled trade offers for McCutchen.
Manager Clint Hurdle revealed the outfield overhaul via a release emailed Sunday afternoon.
“After a detailed evaluation, various considerations and many conversations, we discussed with each of our outfielders the defensive alignment that we will employ,” Hurdle said in the statement. “We believe this alignment will maximize our outfield production.”
McCutchen did not respond to a request for comment from the Tribune-Review.
At the end of last season, McCutchen repeatedly said he did not believe it was necessary for him to move out of center field. Speculation that such a move was in the offing intensified this winter, even as McCutchen was at the center of trade discussions.
In mid-December, after a proposed deal that would have sent him to the Washington Nationals collapsed, McCutchen took a softer stance on moving out of center field.
“I'm just happy that I'm still here,” McCutchen said during PirateFest. “I've had seven amazing years here. Center, right, left … I'm just happy I'm still playing.”
Hurdle indicated there was minimal resistance to the changes.
“Our men were very professional and respectful of the team and each other throughout the process and are selfless in helping us strengthen our team defensively,” Hurdle said.
Hurdle almost certainly would have preferred to announce the move next week after the Pirates begin spring training. However, Marte let the secret out on Saturday via a tweet by @MLBDominicana, a Twitter account that spotlights big leaguers from the Dominican Republic.
Marte was named the National League's Gold Glove left fielder in 2015 and '16.
McCutchen won a Gold Glove in center field in 2012, but his defensive metrics have regressed each season since.
Over the past three seasons, McCutchen has posted a minus-47 defensive runs saved rating, according to Baseball-Reference.com. Marte's rating in that span is plus-50.
With one of the strongest arms in the game, Marte racked up an NL-leading 17 outfield assists last year. It's the most by a Pirate since Dave Parker had 26 assists in 1977.
McCutchen's poor metrics likely were affected by his positioning. He played far shallower last year than in previous seasons, a move enacted by Pirates management.
The shallow positioning helped McCutchen prevent runners from taking an extra base on 46 percent of plays, the best rate of his career. Yet, his minus-28 DRS rating was the worst among all big league outfielders.
An eight-year veteran, McCutchen has made all but four of his 1,175 starts in the majors in center field. The exceptions were four games in which he was the designated hitter.
McCutchen has not played anywhere but center since 2009, when he appeared in one game in left field with Triple-A Indianapolis. Over five seasons in the minors, McCutchen played in 21 games (17 starts) in left.
Rob Biertempfel is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at rbiertempfel@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BiertempfelTrib.
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