The Chicago Cubs could have the next Jarren Duran on their hands.
The Chicago Cubs have a good crop of young positional prospects who will make their way up with the Cubs at some point this season. One of those young stars however is already on the roster and is ready to become the next Jarren Duran for the Chicago Cubs.
A future star in Pete Crow-Armstrong?
The soon to be 23-year-old Pete Crow-Armstrong will enter his third season in the big leagues come 2025. In his first full season with the Cubs after only playing in 13 games in 2023, PCA had a decent showing in 2024 with playing in 123 games, collected 13 doubles, 6 triples, 10 HRs, 27 stolen bases, for a slash line of .237/.286/.384 for and OPS and OPS+ of .670 and 88. Pete Crow-Armstrong is noted for how well he is on defense ranking as one of the top centerfielders in the game.
According to 184lbs Baseball Savant page he ranks in the 99th percentile for both his sprint speed and fielding run value, with also ranking in the 98th percentile for his baserunning value, range, and his arm value. Pete Crow-Armstrong has all the ability and potential to be a Gold Glove centerfielder for the Chicago Cubs at some point, the only question will be is can PCAs bat catch up to his defense? His bat should hopefully develop the more reps he gets with being a career .295/.368/.515 hitter with an OPS of .883.
Similar to Jarren Duran?
The Boston Red Sox centerfielder Jarren Duran had a similar career arc as Pete Crow-Armstrong before becoming one of the premier outfielders in the game today. In his first two seasons Duran hit just .215/.241/.336 in his rookie season and then didn’t do much better in his second season with hitting .221/.283/.363. It wasn’t till his third season when Jarren Duran finally put it together with playing in 102 games and hit .295/.346/.482 for an OPS and OPS+ of .828 and 121.
For 2024 Jarren Duran had a banner year in which he played in 160 games, lead all of Major League Baseball in Plate Appearances (735), At-Bats (671), doubles (48), triples (14), for a slash line of .285/.342/.492 for an OPS and OPS+ of .834 and 129. For his efforts and hard work put in Duran was named an All-Star and received MVP votes with him finishing eighth in the vote. If Pete Crow-Armstrong can develop into anything close to what Jarren Duran has become, then the Chicago Cubs have struck gold.
Will PCA become the next Jarren Duran?
The Cubs are showing a lot of confidence in Crow-Armstrong for this coming season with their move to trade away first basemen/outfielder Cody Bellinger. When Bellinger was still on the roster Crow-Armstrong would’ve had a competition for the starting job in center, and given the money Bellinger was owed he would’ve won out in the positional battle. Now that he is no longer with the team, Crow-Armstrong can go out and play every day knowing he is the starting centerfielder!
The things the Cubs will need Crow-Armstrong to accomplish this off season to come into Spring Training prepared is he needs to put the ball in play more and become a gap hitter. Having thirteen doubles and having six triples for a 22-year-old in his second Major League season is good, but for Crow-Armstrong to become a great player he needs to get that total closer to 30.
Crow-Armstrong will also need up his stolen base totals as well. Showing the ability to run whenever he gets on, I don’t think Crow-Armstrong will have any trouble getting closer to 40 stolen bases in a season if he starts putting the ball in play and getting on base consistently.
Accomplishing both of these priorities would be a huge step in PCAs development and put him on the track of that Jarren Duran took. These steps are crucial to not only PCA finding success in the Major Leagues, but for the Chicago Cubs to be a great team. If he is able to accomplish all this as well as getting his average at somewhere around the .270 range, the Chicago Cubs will have a lockdown start centerfielder for years to come!
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