The stage for Pete Crow-Armstrong was always going to be big. It’s hard not to be, when you’re the centerpiece of the 2021 trade that forced Cubs fans to say goodbye to the much-beloved Javy Baez. And when you’re an acronym before you’ve played a game in the major leagues. Or when rival fanbases relish in your struggles.
But through all of that, Crow-Armstrong has continued to embrace the ever-brightening limelight. While waiting out a rain delay before Saturday’s game against the Cardinals, he was announced as an All-Star for the second straight year.
Last year, he got in via the fan vote, but this year he was chosen as a player-elected pick. Both selections are meaningful to Crow-Armstrong, but he said there is a different feeling this time around.
“When it’s internal like this, knowing how hard this game is and how hard a lot of guys are working on a daily basis, I think that means a lot to me,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Because first and foremost I want there respect as much as I want to go and compete and beat everybody, I think the best compliment you can get as a baseball player is someone in the other uniform’s respect.”
He has already earned the respect and appreciation of his teammates, and not just for the highlight-reel moments at the plate. One of the constants in Crow-Armstrong’s game is his defense; he often makes plays look routine that other center fielders would have to dive for.
“He’s the type of player [that] when you have him behind you as a pitcher, he’s such a good fielder he’s going to lower your ERA,” Shota Imanaga said via interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “He is going to make your metrics better, and that’s for all the pitchers on our staff. Everybody’s very thankful for the player he is, and nobody would doubt the fact that he was an All-Star.”
In 2025, Crow-Armstrong rode a hot first half to the All-Star game, and then his production slowed in the second half of the season. This year, he was holding on to an OPS barely above .700 through the end of May before things took a decisive turn.
Near the end of May, Crow-Armstrong moved to the leadoff spot in Craig Counsell’s batting order, and he took off from there. In June, he posted a 1.249 OPS with 11 home runs, five doubles, and two triples.
“What’s fun to watch is that there’s something in every part of the game that he is able to do,” Counsell said. “And he’s an entertainer. He loves that part of it, he is good at it, and he’s naturally wired to do it.”
Crow-Armstrong has increasingly leaned into that role, even when it means playing to opposing crowds, like when fans in St. Louis hit him with “over-rated” chants and he responded with a home run directly to the section — the famed “Tarps Off” fans in right field — giving him the most grief. The icing on that cake, of course, was Crow-Armstrong pointing to them and twirling his own imaginary shirt in the air as he rounded first base.
But even bigger than that, there’s the stage that is playing all of your home games at Wrigley Field. When Crow-Armstrong comes to bat in any key moment, there are 40,000 people on their feet chanting “PCA! PCA! PCA!” and waiting to see how he’s going to deliver.
And more often than not, he has. Crow-Armstrong has a 1.043 OPS with runners in scoring position this season. Being the guy in those spots isn’t always easy, and success has mean learning to embrace the pressure of the high leverage spots, something that’s gotten easier with increased opportunity to show he can handle those moments.
“He’s gotten more experience with handling it,” Counsell said. “Every player, when they get into a big situation, you need practice [with] how does it affect you being in a bigger situation.
“As you get experience and practice [in those situations], you fail, and then that’s how you learn what not to do and learn what to do.”
Even in a tough loss like Saturday night, when the Cubs dropped the second game of this weekend’s series against the Cardinals, 3-0, Crow-Armstrong showed off some of what’s made him an effective leadoff hitter and how he’s taken steps forward offensively this season.
Crow-Armstrong reached all four times he went to the plate, two of those via walk. Headed into Saturday night’s game, he had a 10.2% walk rate in 2026, which is more than double last year’s or what he had in 2024.
Counsell has praised Crow-Armstrong’s ability to increase his number of walks while not losing his aggressiveness at the plate, and Crow-Armstrong has described the increased number of free passes he’s getting this season as “a fun new thing” he’s embracing.
Given that this is Crow-Armstrong’s third year in the majors and how well he has performed at different stretches in the past two seasons in particular, it is easy to forget how young the Cubs outfielder is and how much room there still is for him to grow.
But as his stage gets bigger, Crow-Armstrong is keeping his goals as focused as possible. He is living up to the potential that made him the target in the Baez trade five years ago, and as he continues forward, Crow-Armstrong wants to get even better at the things that have made him a two-time All Star at 24 years old.
“What I love about this sport is that I continue to find out what I’m capable of,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I also don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. I think the work that I’m doing right now physically, in terms of the routine in the cage and the weight room has been something that I want to hold on to.
“So I’m just excited to see where my game can go, but I think where I’m at right now — the way that I’m able to get one base and the type of at-bats I’m having — it’s just a great place to start. I’m just confident in my ability to keep this up, and I think that’s really where I want to be.”
