Former Rangers Player Makes Case for Andrew McCutchen as Hall of Famer

If Andrew McCutchen gets into the Baseball Hall of Fame, it's highly unlikely that his plaque will feature a Texas Rangers hat.

As quickly as he has ingratiated himself to the Rangers fan base, he is clearly a Pittsburgh Pirate for life. He spent a dozen seasons in the Steel City, and he held out hope that the Pirates might re-sign him for one more year.

But after it was clear that his time in Pittsburgh was done, he landed in Texas and the Rangers are thrilled with how quickly he's impacted the offense.

On MLB Network, Mark DeRosa, a former Ranger and the manager of Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, and former Major League starter Jake Peavy talked about the Rangers’ start to the season.

McCutchen’s great production against Philadelphia, including a home run, caught DeRosa’s eye. As the conversation continued, he was the one who brought up the idea of McCutchen being a potential Hall of Famer.

Mark DeRosa on Andrew McCutchen

Do you think Andrew McCutchen is a future Hall of Famer?

“I put his numbers up against [Andruw Jones and Carlos Beltrán] and they have way more homers and way more bulk, but neither of them won an MVP. It's interesting.”#MLBCentral pic.twitter.com/eDQvFYn26i
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) March 30, 2026

He cited McCutchen’s production, which included 2,270 hits, 333 home runs and 1,156 RBI entering Monday’s action. He was then asked if he was a “yes” on McCutchen. He then explained why he was intrigued by his potential candidacy. But he had a stop to make.

“My initial reaction was to put his numbers up against [Carlos] Beltran and Andruw [Jones] because they just got it,” DeRosa said. “They have way more homers and way more bulk but neither of them won an MVP. It’s interesting.”

Beltran played 20 years and slashed .279/.350/.486 with 435 home runs and 1,587 RBI. He never won an MVP, but he was the American League rookie of the year, a nine-time All-Star, a three-time Gold Glove winner, a two-time Silver Slugger and won a World Series with the Houston Astros in 2017.

Jones played 17 seasons and slashed .254/.337/.486 with 434 home runs and 1,289 RBI. He was a 10-time Gold Glove winner, a five-time All-Star and a Silver Slugger. Intriguingly, both Jones and Beltran played for the Rangers late in their careers.

Perhaps McCutchen hasn’t been quite a productive, but he has similar credentials. He was the National League MVP with the Pirates. He reached the All-Star Game five times, won four NL Silver Slugger and an NL Gold Glove. Like Beltran, he also won the Roberto Clemente award for his charitable work.

It’s an intriguing conversation to say the least.