Pirates legend Andrew McCutchen gets honest about live BP vs Paul Skenes and Jared Jones

Andrew McCutchen is heading into his third season with the Pittsburgh Pirates in his second stint with the franchise. He resigned with the team on a one-year, $5 million contract in the offseason.

The five-time All-Star made his MLB debut with the Pirates in 2009 and is one of the few players on the roster to have experienced postseason baseball with the team.

Heading into the 2025 season, the former National League MVP faced reigning NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes and starter Jared Jones in his live BP in Spring Training. Talking about his experience of facing the two hurlers, McCutchen said on MLB Network:

You face those two guys, you don't need to hit anymore, that's what I said. My second day on the field, they said you got Paul Skenes today. I'm like, 'Alright I can only go up from here.' I faced him, obviously it did not go well for me.

"The following day, it was Jared Jones. I actually laced a single to the right side and I went, 'I don't even need to play anymore, I don't need Spring Training games I don't need to face any pitching. We are good to go.'"

Andrew McCutchen has been around the scene for a while and praised the two young pitchers heading into their second season with the team.

"It's great to have guys like that and that's electric," McCutchen added. "That's the way, the thing, I would say about them."

Paul Skenes had a stellar debut season, winning the NL Rookie of the Year title and being a finalist for the NL Cy Young award. Jared Jones had a strong start to his Pirates career just like Skenes, but a lat injury in July saw his numbers drop in the second half of the season.

Andrew McCutchen pinpoints the thing Pirates need to do heading into new season

The Pirates had a poor 2024 season, finishing bottom in the NL Central after a 76-86 record, identical to their record a season prior when they finished fourth. The team hasn't made the postseason in nearly a decade with their last appearance in the 2015 NL Wild Card series.

Andrew McCutchen emphasized focusing on the small things heading into the 2025 season instead of making drastic changes. He said (via MLB.com):

“It’s doing the small things, if you can do the small things really well, and the cool thing about small things is you can repeat it. I think if we can focus on that and that be our sole focus, then we’ll be fine. That’s what we have to do.”

The Pirates icon's words have seemingly resonated with his younger teammates, especially pitching sensation Paul Skenes. The All-Star ace has added a cutter to his pitching arsenal over the offseason and showed it off during Spring Training games.