Cubs seeing hopeful shift as Pete Crow-Armstrong is quietly turning season around

One of the biggest question marks facing the Chicago Cubs through the early weeks of the 2026 season was Pete Crow-Armstrong's offensive development. Crow-Armstrong looked like an MVP candidate during the early months of the 2025 season, but has struggled to be an above-average offensive player dating back to last July.

The required caveat applies with Crow-Armstrong. He is always going to have positive value for the Cubs, considering his defensive skills and speed, but there needs to be a baseline for what to expect from him as a hitter.

The reality is probably somewhere in the middle. Crow-Armstrong isn't the impact slugger he was for the Cubs before the All-Star break last season, but he's likely not as bad as he's looked to start this season.

Pete Crow-Armstrong may finally be turning a corner

Entering Tuesday's game against the San Diego Padres, Crow-Armstrong is slashing .241/.305/.315 with a wRC+ of 77 through his first 119 plate appearances. Not exactly the production of someone who just landed a pre-arbitration contract extension.

Fortunately, Crow-Armstrong may be showing signs of finally breaking out of his offensive slump. It's a small sample size, only 35 plate appearances, but Crow-Armstrong is slashing .300/.400/.400 with a wRC+ of 133. In a sign that the power may be coming back, the 24-year-old center fielder also has a double and a triple in over that same timespan.

The encouraging signs don't stop there. On the season, Crow-Armstrong's barrel rate is at 5.4%, and his hard-hit rate is at 47.3%. Over the last nine games, those marks have jumped up to 10.5% and 52.6%, respectively. His walk rate is also 11.4% during that stretch.

Crow-Armstrong is still striking, and that is always going to be a part of his game, but his performance over the last two weeks is encouraging. He's being more selective with the pitches he is swinging at, and when he makes contact, he's finding the squaring it up more than he was previously this season.

Baseball is a game of adjustments, and it has been clear for some time that Crow-Armstrong needed an adjustment back after pitchers discovered how to get him out by the end of the 2025 season. The hope is that Crow-Armstrong builds off the recent success he's had and is back on a path toward being a run producer for the Cubs. If not, then the larger questions over his profile will remain.

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