PHILADELPHIA — Andrew McCutchen did not need an award to confirm what he already knew.
The hours he put in both on the field and in the batting cage before games have helped him rediscover his form at the plate for the Pirates.
The award, though, was a bonus.
McCutchen was named the National League Player of the Month on Monday after he batted .411 with six home runs and 23 RBI last month, raising his batting average .059 points in 26 games after he reached the Mendoza line on May 23.
"It's baseball. You just never know what you’re going to get out of it," McCutchen said in the visitors' clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park. "It makes it worthwhile with what I’ve done, to continue to be where I’m at right now. It shows good things and we’re moving in the right direction. I just want to continue to do those things this month and for the rest of the season."
The former National League MVP was batting .200 after going 0 for 5 against the Braves in Atlanta on May 23. He did not start the final two games of that series, though he singled in a pinch-hit situation to raise his average to .203.
McCutchen, who is the Pirates' first five-time winner of the award, responded with the second-best month of his career, going 37 for 90 with a .505 on-base percentage, a .689 slugging percentage and 17 walks to 12 strikeouts in June. He batted .446 with a .510 on-base percentage in July 2012.
That surge — along with a text to Clint Hurdle — had him return to hitting No. 3 in the order. What impressed Hurdle the most was McCutchen's approach with two strikes. McCutchen struck out 24 times in 107 at-bats in May, but started to show more discipline at the plate, particularly against breaking pitches.
Hurdle, whose coaching career began in 1988 after he played 10 professional seasons, said McCutchen's response to hitting .200 was unlike anything he's seen since 2010. That season, Hurdle was the hitting coach for the Rangers when Josh Hamilton batted .454 in July with 49 hits.
Hamilton was named American League MVP that season.
"The biggest offensive component that’s jumped out to me is the two-strike approach," Hurdle said. "He’s done damage with two strikes. He’s hit more balls with two strikes to right-center field than -- I’d have to go back years. The two-strike approach screamed at me from where he was during the first two months of the season and the first four months of the ,16 season."
With Starling Marté expected to return from his 80-game suspension on July 18, McCutchen will even stay in center field.
McCutchen did not play in the series finale against the Giants on Sunday, but he enters the four-game series against the Phillies as one of the hottest hitters in baseball. His .282 average is now only six points behind Josh Harrison, who was selected as the Pirates' lone representative in the All-Star Game, and his on-base percentage is now .372 — 98 points higher than when he reached the Mendoza line in Atlanta.
After reaching his low point, McCutchen would spend time on the field with hitting coach Jeff Branson, who would throw batting practice and soft toss. McCutchen would then head into the batting cage for additional work.
The goal was to stop rotating his torso, which was causing him to pull far too many pitches. That repetition has enabled McCutchen to start hitting to the opposite field again.
That workload is not sustainable for an entire season, but McCutchen is confident that his muscle memory will allow him to continue to succeed.
"It’s cool. I don’t need the reward to tell myself I’ve done well," McCutchen said. "That is great and it shows me that I have done something really good for myself. I don’t need that. I know what I’ve done and I know what I’ve done is really good. I just want to keep taking it day by day. ... Hopefully we're having the same conversation a month from now."