Cutch vying to be 'Game Changer'

PITTSBURGH -- With apologies to a one-time commercial figure who identified himself as not only the president but a client of his hair club, Andrew McCutchen wants to not only promote Major League Baseball's newest prize -- the T-Mobile Game Changer Award -- but win it.

"Being a part of it is definitely cool -- I guess I can have a chance at it. Hopefully, if I do make a good play, I'll move on," McCutchen said. "But a lot of that stuff is out of my control."

In control are fans, who will have the sole voice in who gets the 2014 Game Changer Award, through voting on mlb.com/t-mobile.

"The whole thing is giving fans the opportunity to vote. It's all about them," McCutchen said. "Whoever stays in the running for it, it'll be because the fans are voting for him."

McCutchen and the Nationals' Bryce Harper are the spokesmen for the awards program announced Tuesday. Both will be featured in a national television campaign -- but with Harper out until possibly the second half of the season following thumb surgery, McCutchen will be the only one of them actually able to vie on the field for the honor.

"Every time you take the field, you want to make that catch or get that hit that changes the course of the game and locks up the win," McCutchen said. "I think it's really cool that fans decide this MLB award, and I'm really excited to try to make that game-changing play that fans will want to vote for at the end of the day."

Voting will be sort of "single elimination." Two game-changing players will compete for fans' votes daily -- starting at 10 a.m. ET -- with the day's winner advancing to take on the next day's challenger.