The Chicago Cubs have had a solid spring training so far, showing some potential from top prospects and veterans are prepping for the start of the regular season. With that, one of the rising stars of the franchise has proved his value once again, as if there was any doubt about it in the first place.
Pete Crow-Armstrong has been absolutely lights out this spring, hitting .520/.500/1.040 slash lines with 10 RBI, nine runs, three home runs, and seven strikeouts with a whopping 1.540 OPS in nine games.
This high level of play from the young star has warranted praise from inside the building, including from third-base coach Quintin Berry. In a recent article from the New York Post’s Jon Heyman (subscription required), he transcribed the following quote from Berry regarding Crow-Armstrong:
“He’s the best player I’ve ever seen, he’s putting on a show. He can run. He’s strong. He’s stealing bases. He’s doing it all.”
Heyman notes that this quote was only partially tongue in cheek. Ultimately Berry has worked and played alongside some phenomenal players, having been in the MLB on the playing side of things for five seasons, and with the Milwaukee Brewers from 2021 to 2024 as a first base coach.
In the same article, Heyman transcribed a quote from Sandy Alderson, former president of the New York Mets, who had a hand in trading Crow-Armstrong to the Cubs. Alderson would say the following about trading him away, and why the choice was ultimately made to do so:
“I didn’t want to give him up, but the team deserved reinforcements at the deadline, PCA was hurt — out for the season — but we really liked him. The best thing about trading for Báez was not re-signing him. He did give us a boost, and some controversy, but deGrom went down again, and that was that.”
When the president of a team who traded away a player openly admits they wanted to keep that player, and that the organization really liked said player, it is typically a good sign that they are going to be a positive contributor. When it came down to it, Chicago got the positive end of the deal by getting a young talent who may end up being one of the franchise cornerstones with some more development.
Crow-Armstrong is heading into a crucial season for his development, as he looks to improve his contact consistency and become an offensive weapon for the Cubs in 2025. He will no doubt be a large component to any success they have this season.
