Andrew McCutchen vs. Colby Rasmus

by bigboy1234 on May 9, 2007 6:21 AM EDT Comment 15 comments

Which 20 year old CF in AA would you rather have?

Poll

Who would you rather have?

Andrew McCutchen

43 votes

Colby Rasmus

55 votes

98 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | Comment 15 comments

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Comments

I think Rasmus is more projectable

....and I didn't like Cutch's myspace page...I believe Pirates' brass made him take it down....it was pretty thug/ignorant...and he really looked short in all the ST photos I saw of him....unless he pulls a Jimmy Rollins, I dont think he's going to hit for very much power...

by daveh33 on May 9, 2007 6:49 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Response

Oh, Rasmus certainly. He's the best HS OF from that draft not named Justin Upton.

Cutch will be a solid ML player and probably very quickly but I don't really see the star potential there. Rasmus is a total package.

by mrkupe on May 9, 2007 7:36 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Really?

Really surprised by the voting so far here. As a Cards fan I always temper my enthusiasm when it comes to guys in our system so maybe I'm selling Rasmus a bit short but I really have hard time putting him above Maybin, Cutch, or Bruce.

I've seen Rasmus play several times and have only seen clips of the others but from what I can tell Rasmus is the least physically developed of the group so he may have a tad more projection there. But Rasmus has always been seen tools wise as just above average across the board while the other guys are a tick above in certain areas.

Anyway, should be fun to see how this plays out. Upton is finally playing up to his ability. Cutch showing signs of life after a horrible start following a good ST and AA cup last year. Rasmus on a nice tear after a slow AA start. Bruce and Maybin are raking in high A.

by sungod7 on May 9, 2007 9:01 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

mccutchen vs. rasmus

rasmus puts the ball in play at a better clip and walks a little bit more, so i give him the edge in plate discipline.

speed is supposed to be mccutchen's game, but last year they were both caught stealing 8 times and rasmus had 28 steals while mccutchen had 23. this year mccutchen has 3 steals and rasmus has 4. i would say they are even in speed.

last year mccutchen hit 1 more homer while both played across 2 different levels while rasmus had 2 more doubles and 4 more triples. this year mccutchen has 2 homers, 2 triples, and 5 doubles. rasmus has 4 homers, 1 triple, and 13 doubles. last year they were basically even, but rasmus has shown more pop this year (although mccutchen hasn't been getting much of any kind of hits so it is hard to tell). i would give colby a slight edge in power.

colby out hit mccutchen in low A last year, but struggled with the average in high-A while mccutchen hit over .300 in AA. even with mccutchen's struggles this year i would have to say they are pretty even as far as average hitters go.

on defense they both have good speed, but i think mccutchen might have a little more range. i have heard mccutchen's arm is average at best and perhaps the weakest part of his game. rasmus has been clocked up to 94 from the leftside on the mound, so i would say he has a true plus arm. i would say defensively they are even or rasmus slightly ahead.

physically (even though this probably doesn't matter). i would give the edge to the 6'2" 185 pound lefty hitter over the 5'11" 170 pound righty hitter.

after all of that it looks like rasmus comes out slightly ahead, but that is mostly due to projection. right now i would have to say they are pretty even as they have shown about the same power and have stolen about the same amount of bases. rasmus is supposed to be the power guy, but mccutchen is right there with him in that department. mccutchen is supposed to be the speed guy, but rasmus has stolen more bases.

by fewgoodcards on May 9, 2007 10:21 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Great Breakdown....

The amazing thing here is that all the "experts" were talking about McCutchen with the likes of Bruce, Upton and Maybin before the season started. Have things changed because of the first month of the season, or did the experts just overrate Cutch/underrate Rasmus? They seem pretty even to me.

by guru4u on May 9, 2007 10:58 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

_

I think they just underrated Rasmus after struggling in high-A. But the key is how well they'll be able to hit ML pitching.

by ultxmxpx on May 9, 2007 11:39 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

high-A struggles

i think this is it. if rasmus would have stayed in the midwest league and mashed the rest of the season like he was when he got promoted he would have been right there with them. his early struggles that cut down his overall numbers (he hit over .300 in his final month) caused some people to underrate him especially with the way mccutchen perfromed in AA.

by fewgoodcards on May 9, 2007 11:55 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

i think

sometimes McCutchen gets grouped with Maybin and Bruce because he was picked right between them. what a good draft for high school outfielders though. John Drennon was in that draft too.

by kaisertown on May 9, 2007 1:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I had them like this

Upton at 4
Maybin at 5
Bruce at 10
Cutch at 13
....but that was before I had actually seen Cutch...there is no way he is 5'11"...he looks 5'6" or 5'8"....

by daveh33 on May 9, 2007 11:57 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Response

I had Upton at 4, Rasmus at 17, Bruce at 18, Maybin at like 28-29, and Cutch was a few spots lower than Maybin, I think.

by mrkupe on May 9, 2007 12:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

ranks

Upton at 2, Bruce 14, Maybin 18, Rasmus 20, McCutchen 21.

I think Maybin has better tools than Rasmus, but I'm very high on Rasmus. I don't think he was in many people's top 20 last year.

by limozeen on May 9, 2007 1:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'll admit I had him way too low

at #40....I dont even know why...I liked him...shoulda had him at 30 or something...hahaha, I still laugh about how people had Upton below Butler and Chris Young, and other 'experts' who didnt even have him in their Top 10...what a joke. If I was editor and one of my writers had turned in a list with Upton outside of the 10, he'd have been fired on the spot.

by daveh33 on May 10, 2007 12:21 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

hahahaha

what exactly is the point of this post? is this a movie quote?

by daveh33 on May 10, 2007 1:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Maybe this just goes to show...

How close these guys are. Luciano always makes a comment in his top 100 list that the ranking itself doesn't mean much. The fact that the kid made the top 100 means he's in the top 2% of all minor leaguers.

Not much difference between #20 and #40 after all I guess.

by guru4u on May 10, 2007 7:17 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Cutch

I liked McCutchen more before the season started and I'm not going to jump off of his bandwagon quite yet. He's still got all of the tools that you are looking for in a player and I see really no reason to believe that Rasmus has as much raw talent as Cutch. Rasmus is showing that he has more polish right now, but I don't think his ceiling is quite as high.

BTW, for those worried about his size, that 500 ft. HR he hit yesterday might tell you something about his raw power... I'm not concerned about how tall he is. If scouts aren't, then I'm not.

by jc3 on May 10, 2007 11:20 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs