MESA, Ariz. — Pete Crow-Armstrong knows he can be a more consistent hitter.

For as many memorable moments Crow-Armstrong delivered at the plate last year, the Chicago Cubs center fielder is still not pleased by the offensive downturn he experienced in the final two months. The extremes between the first half — an All-Star Game-worthy 21 doubles, 25 home runs, 27 steals and an .847 OPS — and the second half — a .216/.262/.372 slash line and .634 OPS — have Crow-Armstrong eager to show the first four months are a truer reflection of who he is as a big-league hitter.

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Teammate Nico Hoerner helped Crow-Armstrong put his career-best season into perspective by noting how he would feel if the numbers he produced were flipped.

“You look back at the year and you’re disappointed by hitting 30 homers and stealing 30 bags and hitting 37 (doubles), like, I am, but if I hit six homers in the first half versus the second half, and I hit 25 homers in the second half, I’m probably pretty freaking happy,” Crow-Armstrong said. “So it doesn’t matter how I do it. I did what I did last year. It’s just about doing more of it the next year. I don’t know how it’s going to happen. Don’t know how it’s going to play out, but it’s about the work I put in now, and that’s fun to do.”

Crow-Armstrong dug in to the why behind the massive inconsistency in hopes of identifying, and correcting, the issue that contributed to such a vast gap in production level. He sat down with assistant hitting coach John Mallee and assistant director of major-league development Ben Martin to figure out how to attack the offseason with necessary adjustments. As they went through video and various graphics, they noticed his setup in the batter’s box got out of whack during the stretches during which he had struggled. That, in turn, would affect his swing and trigger mechanical issues.

Crow-Armstrong focused on his batting stance extensively over the offseason to correct that inconsistency. It remains a focal point this spring.

“I’ve literally just tried working on getting in the box the exact same way every swing I take this offseason and really mastering and perfecting my setup so I don’t have to worry about a new stance and a different feel here and a different feel there when July rolls around — and I shouldn’t be worrying about those kind of things anyways,” Crow-Armstrong said.

Crow-Armstrong’s stance became a slightly too wide over the final two months, forcing him to cover more area leading to more miss-hit balls while limiting the adaptability within his swing.

“We’re just trying to do what he did last year earlier and get back to those shorter movements, less head movement, less forward advancement in the stride, and it’s been really good,” Mallee told the Tribune on Saturday. “It’s his intent too. When he’s doing it right, he’s in the right stance, he can hold his back side so as he advances forward, he doesn’t accelerate. When he’s in trouble, he gets off of it, and it just pushes him out and makes the ball speed up. His decisions got worse, and he had more in-zone whiff than normal.

Mallee is entering his fourth season working with Crow-Armstrong, dating to their time together at Triple-A Iowa in 2023 when Mallee was the hitting coach. Growth on the mental side is just as important to the 23-year-old’s offensive development.

“I’m most proud of his maturity,” Mallee said. “That sixth tool is going to make him either a great or just a good player. It’s being able to control his emotions and get into the next pitch and those type of things. I’m most proud of him for that and just watching him grow up in front of my eyes, it’s like watching your son grow up.”

Development often isn’t linear, and every big-leaguer is searching for consistency, shortening the gap between the peaks and valleys within their performance. Manager Craig Counsell merely wants to see Crow-Armstrong continue to develop this year. He knows Crow-Armstrong is vocal about his desire to chase less and seek out damage in the zone. But Counsell isn’t picky with what another offensive step forward looks like for Crow-Armstrong, who understands his strengths and weaknesses as a hitter.

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“I know that I chase, I know that I can get away with hitting bad balls and doing damage on bad balls, but there is no consistency there really, it’s very sporadic,” Crow-Armstrong said. “The swing, we’ve kind of ironed that out. It’s not the most perfect thing in the world, but the steps we’ve taken with the swing over the last three-plus years has been incredible, and I’m very proud of that.

“If I can just repeat and repeat and repeat, and if I can really stay in my box physically and not stride forward like you saw me do a little bit, it’ll get better. You’ll see more of what we saw in the first half. That’s how I feel about it. It’s about just being more stingy and really freaking detailed in my work.”

Crow-Armstrong’s self-assessment didn’t stop there, though. He expressed displeasure at last year’s on-base percentage (.287) and 59.5% swing rate.

“That’s no fun, I had a lot more fun when I was playing well,” Crow-Armstrong said. “And when I was playing well, I was keeping the ball in the middle of the plate, and I was able to do damage there. So there’s a bunch of things I need to do to make myself a more well-rounded offensive asset.”

Another stellar all-around season from Crow-Armstrong would go a long way in helping the Cubs get back to the postseason and put them on track to make a deeper run in October. No matter how his offense trends this season, Crow-Armstrong was adamant that playing Gold Glove-level defense again in center field remains his No. 1 job.

“I hope I (expletive) come out to play when I should, when I’m supposed to, when it’s needed and not freaking crumble when we’re playing playoff baseball,” Crow-Armstrong said. “However the year shapes out, it’s going to shape out. Like, no one year is going to be the same. So approaching it in that way, if I’m shooting for consistency and I find it great. If not, my job is to still to go out and play Gold Glove defense. … At the end of the day, I’m here to play defense.”