Andrew McCutchen has been one of the top prospects in baseball since the Pirates made him their first-round pick in the 2005 first-year player draft from Fort Meade High School in Florida. He is 22 years old and appears ready for the major leagues after spending last season at Class AAAA Indianapolis.

Nyjer Morgan, on the other hand, is 28 years old and yet to establish himself as a major-league regular. You don’t need a full hand to count the number of star players who did not become starters until they were 28.

Then you throw in the performance of both players this spring, though that comes with the caveat that numbers compiled in exhibition play carry less weight than the regular season and come within an extremely small sample size.

McCutchen has a .255 batting average, a fine .388 on base percentage and a .436 slugging percentage in 67 plate appearances. Morgan’s numbers are .179/.226/.250 in 62 plate appearances.

McCutchen is clearly the better player now and has the brighter future. Thus, it seems obvious he should be the leadoff hitter when the Pirates open April 6 at St. Louis.

However, sometimes the obvious decision in baseball isn’t necessarily so obvious. That is the case in the McCutchen/Morgan debate.

The Pirates, regardless of what they say publicly since they are in the business of selling tickets, realize it is a long shot that they will contend in 2009. Thus, it would be bad business decision to allow McCutchen to begin this season in the major leagues.

The sooner McCutchen makes his major-league debut is the sooner he begins accruing major-league service time, putting him on the road to free agency after six full seasons. Thus, it makes no sense to burn a year of McCutchen in the majors in what almost surely will be a lost season.

That is why Morgan will be the left fielder on April 6 and McCutchen will be at Indianapolis, even if doesn’t seem like the right move to make at first blush.