After all the dust settled from the trade deadline, I looked at just exactly who all the Cubs picked up over the course of two weeks and Pete Crow-Armstrong was easily my favorite prospect at the time.
When it comes to the 2022 season, he might be the player that I want to see most on an every day basis and I’m hoping that he’s good enough to start 2022 at South Bend despite only playing a week of low A ball at age 19.
Basic Info
Age – 19
Height – 6-foot
Weight –184
Bats – Left
Throws – Left
Drafted by the Mets in 2020 in the 1st round
What Armstrong does have is a set of qualities that it appears that Jed Hoyer is starting to covet and collect when acquiring talent. Armstrong is not going to be a guy that comes in and cranks out home runs to the tune of 30 a year. He’s a good enough hitter that his power is going to develop naturally and his swing is good enough that he can barrel up balls now. As he matures, some of that get power to turn into home runs. At best, we’re looking at 15 to 20 a year, maybe more.
Pete really has two strengths. The first one that he can put the bat on the ball and spray it all over the ballpark. He is going to hit for a high average. In just his one week of play down in Florida before he had season ending surgery, he was hitting almost .500. While the Mets did take them in the 2020 draft, he did not get any work in last year other than in instructional league.
Crow-Armstrong’s second greatest strength is that he is a plus-plus defender. He could play major league centerfield right now and not have any issues whatsoever going and getting balls, as he has really good speed, or making the correct throws. He might be the type of player that because of his defense and his ability to put the bat on the ball and use all fields, he could be someone who could move fairly quickly in the system. The Cubs really haven’t had a guy like him until this year when Darius Hill showed up. Crow-Armstrong is a little bit better of a hitter than Darius Hill profiles to be, but you need guys that get on base and set the table for the big guns.
In addition, Crow-Armstrong is also considered to be quite a baseball rat. He lives, eats, and breaths baseball even though both of his parents were actors. He grew up a Cubs’ fan with Javier Baez as his favorite player, which is kind of ironic because of the trade.
Let’s take a look at some video of the youngster.
Most publications are also pretty effusive in her praise of his talents. Here’s what FanGraphs had to say followed by MLB Pipeline
FanGraphs
The headline skill here, though, is PCA’s defense in center field, which was the best in the draft class regardless of demographic. It’s fun just watching him shag balls during BP. Like Blake Rutherford before him, Crow-Armstrong has a pretty swing geared for low-ball contact. He’s especially adept at lifting breaking balls in the air but may struggle against velocity at the letters. His potential Gold Glove-caliber center field defense makes him a likely big leaguer, but issues with top-of-zone velocity may prevent him from being a complete offensive player.
Pipeline
One of the best pure hitters in the 2020 high school class, Crow-Armstrong has a quick left-handed swing geared for hitting line drives to all fields. There’s some question as to how much power he’ll produce, but he could develop into a 15-homer threat as he adds more strength and turns on more pitches. He has plus speed and the instincts to make the most of it on the bases.
At best, he could be in Chicago as early as late 2023 or early 2024. Then again, stranger things have happened and you never know how a player is going to do at a level until they get there. Still, I am hopeful and dreaming on his multitude of talents.
Cubs Central 
Todd, something we both have been calling for in the Cubs organization for a while, is more having players with good bat to ball skills. When the Cubs made the Javi trade with the Mets, I was hoping to possibly get back Vientos or Mauricio for the Cubs. But maybe we are seeing a trend by Jed, with getting via trade, Crow-Armstrong, Madrigal, the drafting of Nico….it appears to be an attempt to find more balance for the future. If so, like it!
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All I’m asking the universe of PCA is to be the next Kenny Lofton. That’s it!
He and Howard were arguably my top 2 HSers last year. They were both in a small group – Howard, PCA, Walker, Kelley, Romo IIRC – that I considered cream of the crop kind of talents
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I will take that….Lofton, wow….lets dream on that!!
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