Oh, Andrew!

(WPA Graph: FanGraphs)

Regardles of the exploits of The Legend, Garrett Jones, it's becoming abundantly clear that the best player on this Pirates team is Andrew McCutchen. He started very well, and has actually gotten better as the year has progressed. We've all been down this road with Pirate center fielders before, but I am extremely bullish on McCutchen's potential at this point, and would put his ceiling at somewhere around (if not slightly north of) Grady Sizemore or Carl Crawford, two All-Star center fielders. Then again, we all know what the floor looks like too. (See Hermansen, Chad.)

All that being said, let me show you some splits from Cutch's inaugural campaign, and please bear in mind that these all come with "SMALL SAMPLE SIZE" at the top:

First Half (166 PA): .292/.343/.455, with a .350 BABIP

Second Half (152 PA): .281/.375/.508, with a .288 BABIP

Last 21 Games (92 PA): .320/.424/.613, with a .276 BABIP

RISP (63 PA): .354/.460/.688, with 4 HR and 31 RBI

2 outs, RISP (29 PA): .261/.414/.565, with 2 HR and 10 RBI

High Leverage (49 PA): .326/.367/.535, with 1 HR and 19 RBI

This is at a premium defensive position, while playing well above average defense (10.4 UZR/150), 3rd best in the National League in center field among players with at least 500 innings there.

So it's justified that my heart flutters every time I hear his name, right?