Given how he finished the 2024 season, we all hoped Pete Crow-Armstrong would carry that momentum into this year and play a key offensive role for the Chicago Cubs. I don't think any of us thought he'd be just this good, though.
Crow-Armstrong went 1-for-4 with a three-run homer in Chicago's 6-2 series-clinching win over the rival Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night, tying himself with Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki for the team lead with nine long-balls. Whether you're a casual fan or someone like Cubs beat writer Sahadev Sharma, it's clear to everyone that we're witnessing something special right now.
I don't even know what to say about PCA anymore. We knew his potential, but this power output is jarring. His ninth homer of the year is a 3-run shot to put the Cubs up 4-1 here in Milwaukee. The quality of contact is regularly top-tier.
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) May 4, 2025
As he climbed to the top of prospect lists, evaluators speculated that Crow-Armstrong might develop more power as he matured physically, and that's exactly what seems to be happening. The former first-rounder has hit nine home runs since April 13 - the most of any player in MLB during that span.
Pete-Crow Armstrong has tapped into a power stroke for the Cubs
Last season, he hit 10 home runs in 410 plate appearances. This year, he's got nine in 143 trips to the plate. We're talking about a 23-year-old who's on pace for 30+ homers, steals and doubles - and he may very well win a Gold Glove for his defensive efforts in center field. His firepower has helped deepen a Cubs lineup that's gotten virtually no offense out of the third base position and just now got Dansby Swanson going after dropping him to the eighth spot in the lineup.
He's used the whole field well and, despite a chase rate that ranks near the bottom of the league, he keeps finding ways to deliver. Some of the pitches he's managed to muscle out of the ballpark were well outside the strike zone, and it didn't seem to impact him in the slightest. He's just that dialed in right now.
With many of the Cubs' emotional 2021 trade deadline moves netting out as neutral (at best), the Crow-Armstrong deal looks like it could end up shaping much of this decade on the North Side. Despite Javier Baez's 2025 renaissance, moving him was undoubtedly the right move - and now, Jed Hoyer is enjoying the fruits of his efforts as PCA carries the Cubs to the top of the standings.
