Cubs' bet on Pete Crow-Armstrong looks smarter after stat shows key shift

Pete Crow-Armstrong's 2026 season is off to a pretty good start, all things considered. He hasn't been an elite offensive contributor through the Chicago Cubs' 3-3 opening act, but his defense and baserunning remain unparalleled. Oh, and he also inked a nine-figure extension to remain with the club through 2032.

Expectations come with that kind of salary, and for those hoping to see the All-Star version of PCA a little more frequently, you're in luck. The center fielder is still whiffing and chasing far too often, but he's bumped his swing speed considerably from last year. When he starts making more contact, it's going to go a long way.

His average swing speed is up more than one mile per hour entering Friday, jumping from 72.7 MPH (2025) to 73.9 MPH. Perhaps even more impressively, as Eno Sarris of The Athletic points out, his top-end swing speed has jumped even more; Crow-Armstrong's hardest swings are now among the fastest in all of Major League Baseball.

There's more nuance to being a great hitter than just swinging hard, but the positive benefits of doing so are impossible to deny. Though the Cubs still need to see an evolution in plate approach from their star center fielder, they can rest assured knowing his impact will be second to none.

Pete Crow-Armstrong could post best power-speed year in Cubs history

The biggest concern with Crow-Armstrong remains his plate discipline and swing decisions. He hacks at pitches outside the zone at a ridiculous rate (he's up to 45.5 percent this year) and too often isn't willing to pass up a decent offering in order to hunt a good one later in the count.

He doesn't necessarily need to swing less — what would be the point in all that bat speed if he kept it perched atop his shoulders? Instead, he just needs to be a bit more patient and work deeper counts. There are few players better optimized to take advantage of mistakes than he is.

The good news with PCA is that he doesn't actually need to do much more at the plate to be a star. His 31 homers certainly contributed to his overall value last year, but his baserunning and defensive work did most of the talking for his 5.4 fWAR. That may not quite be MVP territory, but the list of players who consistently live in that stratosphere is thin.

With such a high floor thanks to the less glamorous parts of his game, Crow-Armstrong can swing his way toward a 40-homer campaign with (some) reckless abandon. He's certainly got all the tools to get to that plateau.