The Chicago Cubs are one of the best teams in the National League this season, despite missing key players like starting pitchers Justin Steele and Javier Assad. One reason for their 17-12 start can be attributed to the recent play of outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, who leads Major League Baseball with 12 stolen bases and has shown a vast improvement from last year in the slugging department, hitting five home runs in 29 games.

As a rookie in 2024, Crow-Armstrong struggled to regularly put the ball in play, striking out in 23.9 percent of his at-bats, and the power stroke wasn’t quite there, hitting 10 home runs in 410 plate appearances. The 23-year-old and former New York Mets prospect reportedly turned down a $75 million offer from the Cubs earlier this season, betting on himself to outplay that contract and earn a bigger payday.

In a recent “Baseball Today” episode with Chris Rose and Trevor Plouffe, Rose said that he believes Crow-Armstrong is looking for a contract similar to Jackson Merrill’s $135 million extension with the San Diego Padres. “If he [Crow-Armstrong] puts together a full, solid season, it might not be as good as Merrill offensively, but as good as Merrill was defensively and as well as he runs the bases for a guy his size, he’s not Pete Crow-Armstrong in those areas,” Rose said on “Baseball Today”. “So I don’t think PCA has to get to the offensive numbers of Merrill’s because of the plus plus defender and base runner that he is.”

Crow-Armstrong is one of the best defensive outfielders in MLB, ranking in the 100th percentile with seven outs above average, the 96th percentile in sprint speed, and the 94th percentile in arm strength. The Cubs’ rising star’s value and the amount of money he earns in his next contract could exponentially increase if he proves his impressive hitting at the plate is not an anomaly.