The Chicago Cubs had a hunch that there was something special about Pete Crow-Armstrong when they traded for him back in 2021. But they didn’t seem quite aware of how special the kid was.
“PCA,” after slamming his 18th home run of the year in the Cubs 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field Thursday night, is on a pace to hit 40+ home runs and steal 50+ bases. To put things into perspective, only 19 Cubs have posted 40+ home run seasons in franchise history and only 20 have posted 50+ stolen base seasons. No Cub has ever done both in the same year.
To make things even more oddly unique (pleasantly surprising) is HOW he’s doing what he’s doing.
PCA Is Defying Baseball Logic
His Thursday night 2-run homer, for example, came off an outside-the-strike-zone four-seam fastball, 3.90 feet above the ground (the 9th highest MLB pitch hit for a home run this season).
He also holds the distinction, by the way, of hitting the two lowest balls for home runs this season– 1.08 feet off the ground against the Colorodo Rockies on May 28 and 0.86 feet off the ground versus the Milwaukee Brewers on May 2.
The 23-year-old Crow-Armstrong is succeeding, and leading the national league with a 3.6 WAR, despite doing so much that flies in the face of conventional baseball wisdom. For instance, his 44.0% chase rate, which nearly doubles the MLB average, should not be resulting in so much hard contact. Baseball logic would insist that the young star, with so much outside-the-strike-zone free swinging, should be a pop-up and ground ball disappointment, not an All-Star Game-bound MVP candidate.
The Chicago Cubs’ Dangerous Riddle
PCA is proving to be quite the riddle for opposing pitchers, who aren’t even safe against him with throw-away pitches. His own teammates are equally befuddled.
“There’s really no clear way to attack him,” said Cubs starting pitcher Jameson Taillon, who allowed 2 earned runs over 6.1 innings to get Thursday’s win. “We all thought he was going to hit in the big leagues, but the power is crazy. He’s putting balls way back in the seats against good, tough pitches.”
Cubs reliever Ryan Pressly, who got the save on Thursday, concurs with Taillon’s take.
“Sometimes he hits it off the ground; sometimes he hits it over his head,” Pressly told reporters. “I don’t even know how to pitch Pete, to be honest with you.”
Ready To Play Everyday
Crow-Armstrong came into Thursday’s game chomping at the bit and full of pent-up energy after being given a required game off by manager Craig Counsell on Wednesday. It was his first full day of rest so far this season and it was not well-received by the burgeoning star.
“I’m ready to play every day,” Crow-Armstrong told reporters. “I don’t ever want the off-day, but ‘Couns’ has every one of our best interests in mind. So I trust all the decisions he makes, whether I fight him on it a little bit or not.
“Sometimes, when it’s a day off, I don’t know what to do with myself. [Was I] Antsy? No. Locked in? Yes.”
And, so far, PCA has been entirely “locked in” throughout this 2025 campaign. His story represents a pleasant turnaround from struggles he had beginning with a very late-2023 cup of coffee in the big leagues up until the last two months of 2024, when he seemed to be coming into his own as a major league talent. The talk during his struggles often centered around the belief that he might not be able to get around on big league heaters and that he may end up being just a glove and run player.
The analysts and critics were obviously wrong. And, every day, PCA is smacking balls in and outside the strike zone to drive home just how wrong they were.
Chicago Cubs veteran has become a low-key team MVP
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