Pete Crow-Armstrong: Cubs Star’s Rise | MLB
Pete Crow-Armstrong‘s meteoric rise with the Chicago Cubs is the talk of the MLB, and with good reason. The dynamic center fielder, showcasing his primarykeyword speed and surprising secondarykeyword power, is electrifying fans and leading the Cubs’ charge. His captivating personality, praised by teammates as genuine and full of energy, makes him a true fan favorite.From backyard baseball to Harvard-Westlake, Crow-Armstrong’s journey is a testament to his love of the game. He has quickly become the face of the franchise. News Directory 3 has the exclusive story. Discover what’s next for this rising star.
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Chicago Cubs and batting in the middle of one of the best lineups in Major League Baseball.
The 23-year-old also flashes speed few players possess (his 23 stolen bases rank third in baseball) while providing more power (19 home runs) than his 6-foot, 184-pound frame might suggest. He’s burst onto the scene this season, helping the Cubs into first place in the National League Central. His latest heroics include an improbable diving catch to preserve a one-run lead Tuesday against the Milwaukee Brewers and a laser off wrigley Field’s right-field scoreboard just a few minutes later that registered at 111.5 mph off the bat. The two moments led to 38,000 fans chanting, “M-V-P! M-V-P!”
Crow-Armstrong’s infectious personality is also a huge part of his appeal for a fan base starving for a star and a league always trying to sell it’s game. He has garnered the most All-Star votes of any National League outfielder and fourth most among all players — behind only Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie freeman. He connects with the young and old in the stands at Wrigley and also inside the Cubs’ clubhouse.He might be the complete package.
“He’s incredibly kind and genuine and full of energy and good with kids,” teammate Dansby Swanson said. ”Just seeing him with players or coaches’ kids. He’s so kindhearted and fun towards them.
“Energy is attractive.He’s full of it.”
WHEN YOU TALK to anyone who has known Crow-Armstrong for a while, they’ll tell you the same thing: He’s always been like this. Full of energy and exuberance.
“Always in motion,” his mom, Ashley Crow, said. “And just wholly game for anything.He just loves [baseball]. He’s loved it as early as 3.”
Even before turning 3, Crow-Armstrong was hitting baseballs. A T-ball set from an aunt came as a gift for his second birthday – but quickly became obsolete.
“Within a week he had abandoned the tee entirely,” Matt recalled. “He wanted us to throw to him.”
Matt and Ashley where working actors at the time. Both appeared on the television show “Heroes,” and Ashley had played the mom from the movie “Little big League,” in which her character’s 12-year-old son takes over the Minnesota Twins. But there’s really no line to be drawn from their acting days to their son’s emerging stardom, even with all three ending up in the entertainment industry.
“Everyone expects this Hollywood answer to this question,” Crow-Armstrong told ESPN recently. “Nah, I was outside every day playing ball. Minimal screen time. I went to set once or twice,but other than that I was in the backyard.We had a big backyard.”
Said Ashley: “That backyard was his home. He would wake up in the morning and head right to the backyard.”
Soon, PCA — as he’s commonly known — would join Sherman Oaks Little League, where Detroit Tigers pitcher Jack Flaherty once played. In fact, Flaherty umpired some of Crow-Armstrong’s games.
“He’s a good kid,” Flaherty said before facing crow-Armstrong recently. “Always has been.”
Flaherty was asked how he planned to get the hot-hitting third-year player out.”I’m going to hit him,” Flaherty deadpanned.
Crow-Armstrong went 1-for-3 off Flaherty, but the ball stayed in the ballpark, a victory for pitchers these days. Power wasn’t his trademark growing up anyway. His legs were.
“He’s always run the bases like someone is chasing him,” childhood friend and Cubs minor leaguer Drew Bowser said.”He just kept getting better and better and better. What you’re seeing is not surprising.At least not to me.”
Bowser hit the first home run off PCA,the pitcher. They were 7 years old.
“Oh, I remember it,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Only gave up three home runs in my Little league career and he was one of them. His mom has a video of it.”
Bowser added: “He just stood there and looked at it. I would have been crying.”
As with many kids,it was a time when Crow-Armstrong fell in love with the game. He was asked what comes to mind when he considers his early memories of baseball.
“It’s kind of a corny cinema in a way,” he said.”The dads are drinking beer and all the kids are playing whiffle ball and throwing the football on the field after hours. Just being kids.
“I found so much of myself on a baseball field.”
Eventually,Crow-Armstrong would join the famed Harvard-Westlake high school that Flaherty,New york Yankees pitcher Max Fried and boston Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito had attended. They were all older, but Crow-Armstrong felt their presence.
“They definitely shaped Harvard-Westlake’s baseball program to set it up to get players like myself and make it a baseball recruitment,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I had no business going to Harvard-Westlake, financially or academically. Those guys built that program up.”
The coach at Harvard-Westlake, Jared Halpert, likes to tell a story that illustrates the confidence of his former student.
During a fall league game, the teams were tied heading into the final inning.Crow-Armstrong was in the on-deck circle.
“Being a coach, I told him to stay within himself and that we don’t need anything special,” Halpert recalled in a phone interview. ”Just get a good swing off.
“He told me to get away from him – it may have been more colorful — he was going to end the game. First or second pitch he hit a ball over a house in right field.”
Crow-Armstrong remembered that moment: “I think I was nice about it, but yeah I told him, ‘I got this.'”
Many of Halpert’s former players who are now in the big leagues commonly return to the high school to hang out with the current team, including Crow-Armstrong.
“There’s a little bit of a reserve by them,” Halpert said. “No one wants to get out there and compete with the high school kids. Nothing to gain. But Pete just doesn’t care about that. He’s out there every day when he comes back here. He’s taking reps and getting after it with these high school kids.He doesn’t care how he looks.
“When you talk about little kids playing baseball, this is the epitome of that. It’s a business, but this kid is in love with the game.That’s what he’s showing everybody right now.”
LOOKING BACK NOW, Jed Hoyer, the Cubs’ president of baseball operations, feels fortunate. A shoulder injury — along with the COVID pandemic — might be the reason Crow-Armstrong is currently manning center field for hoyer’s team and not the New York Mets.
After a triumphant career at Harvard-Westlake, PCA was drafted 19th by the Mets in 2020. He began his pro career the following season but lasted only six games due to a shoulder injury which required surgery. It was during his recovery that summer when he was traded to the Cubs in a deal headlined by shortstop Javier Baez.
“That year, we had a bunch of rentals and other executives were not willing to talk about their top prospects at Double-A and above,” Hoyer said. “So we dipped down to Single-A.”
Chicago was in the midst of stripping apart its championship core from the previous decade, and Hoyer had a lot on his plate. Along with the Baez deal, he traded stars Kris bryant and