After it was confirmed on Tuesday morning that Andrew McCutchen will not play centerfield, Bruce Bochy laid out how he plans to orient the corner outfield positions next season.
Bruce Bochy says Andrew McCutchen will be the right fielder, and Hunter Pence is on board with moving to left field.
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) January 16, 2018
“He’s good for anything,” Bochy said of Pence moving positions. “Whatever’s best for the club.”
Since Pence was traded to the Giants in 2012, fans have become accustomed to seeing him patrol right field. During his six years in San Francisco, Pence has spent 659 games in right field, including a stretch from 2013-2014 where he appeared in all but one game. Yet, even when he was with the Houston Astros from 2007-2011 and the Philadelphia Phillies from 2011-2012, Pence never played left field.
As for McCutchen, he spent the first eight years of his career solely in centerfield, but had to transition to right field with the emergence of Starling Marte last season. Ultimately, McCutchen went back to centerfield when Marte was handed an 80-game suspension for PEDs.
Although both have spent little time at their new positions, Pence and McCutchen are excited about the impending change.
McCutchen on playing RF: "I'm loking forward to playing right. That's one place people can't pick on me saying my defensive metrics are bad."
— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) January 16, 2018
Hunter Pence will play left field, per Bruce Bochy. Bochy said Hunter is very excited about having McCutchen.
— Kerry Crowley (@KO_Crowley) January 16, 2018