All season, Pete Crow-Armstrong’s glove has already put him within the dialog for top-of-the-line defensive seasons baseball has ever seen. On Sunday in St. Louis, his pace put him alongside a Chicago Cubs legend.
With a stolen base within the Cubs’ 3-2 loss to the Cardinals, the 23-year-old middle fielder grew to become the primary Cub with 30 or extra steals in a season at his age since Corridor of Famer Ryne Sandberg in 1983. Crow-Armstrong additionally went 1-for-3 on the plate, snapping a latest dry spell.
It’s been a difficult August offensively for the rookie, who has simply three hits in 9 video games this month, together with 13 strikeouts and no walks. Even so, his season numbers stay robust: a .259/.296/.527 slash line with 27 residence runs, 78 RBIs, 74 runs scored, and now 30 steals in 115 video games. His mixture of energy and pace has him flirting with a 30/30 marketing campaign — one thing no Cub has finished in a long time.
Whereas his bat has cooled, Crow-Armstrong’s protection continues to redefine elite. He leads all outfielders in Statcast’s Outs Above Common with +18, already tied for the Tenth-best outfield season since monitoring started in 2016. He’s inside hanging distance of Billy Hamilton’s +22 in 2016 and Byron Buxton’s document +27 in 2017.
Cubs younger Middle Fielder continues to shine
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Maybe most spectacular, Crow-Armstrong has shattered the single-season mark for many 5-Star catches — the hardest performs with a catch likelihood of 25% or much less — with 14 already, breaking the earlier document of 12 set by Buxton and Hamilton. To place that in perspective, outfielders collectively convert solely about 7% of such probabilities. Crow-Armstrong has transformed an absurd 53% of his 5-Star alternatives, far forward of the next-best mark (37% by Jose Siri).
His skill to make the spectacular look routine typically hides simply how tough the performs are. Superior metrics present jumps 10 to fifteen toes higher than common, permitting him to succeed in balls most outfielders can’t contact. Whether or not it’s totally laying out to rob Masyn Winn on July 4 or masking 107 toes into the wall to remove additional bases from Alex Name in June, Crow-Armstrong’s defensive instincts and shutting pace are unmatched within the fashionable recreation.
The Cubs almost paired his milestone with a sequence win, however the Cardinals had the ultimate say. Matt Shaw’s two-run homer within the fifth tied the sport at 2-2, marking his third blast in 4 video games, however St. Louis broke the tie within the seventh when Jordan Walker singled, stole second, and scored on Nolan Gorman’s base hit. Chicago threatened within the ninth, placing two on, however Jon Berti was referred to as out on an in depth stolen-base try earlier than Shaw’s groundout ended it.
Regardless of the loss, Crow-Armstrong’s season stays a mix of historic protection and creating offensive potential. If his bat rebounds down the stretch, he may end 2025 not solely because the Cubs’ first 30/30 participant in a long time but in addition because the proprietor of one of the best defensive outfield season ever recorded.