Consistency the key for PCA after up-and-down breakout season

MESA, Ariz. -- Something that Nico Hoerner said to Pete Crow-Armstrong resonated with the 23-year-old center fielder and stuck with him throughout the offseason.

It was pointed out to Crow-Armstrong that he felt some disappointment after a season in which he piled up 30 homers, 30 doubles and 30 steals (a first for a player in Cubs history). It felt that way due to a second-half fade. Had the nature of Crow-Armstrong’s season been reversed -- a tough first-half and great finish -- the outfielder would have internalized his year differently.

“If I hit 25 homers in the second half, I’m probably pretty freakin’ happy,” Crow-Armstrong said. “It doesn’t matter how I do it. I did what I did last year. It’s just about doing more of it next year. I don’t know how it’s going to happen. I don’t know how it’s going to play out. But it’s about the work I put in now. That’s fun to do.”

With his outgoing personality and dynamic style of play, Crow-Armstrong found stardom as a focal point of the Cubs’ postseason team last year.

He continued to show off his elite speed and played defense at an historic level, but the center fielder also flashed even more power than expected and earned a constant spotlight. Crow-Armstrong started for the National League in the All-Star Game and picked up his first career Glove Glove Award. He finished ninth in NL MVP voting after looking like a Top 3 contender early on.

“When you look at the back of the baseball card last year,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said, “it’s like, ‘Oh wow, he had a really good season.’ It came with some really high highs and some really low lows.”

The goal this spring is to find a way to reduce the dramatic peaks and valleys.

Crow-Armstrong put the perfect-world scenario on full display in the first half, when he launched 25 homers with a .544 slugging percentage and an .846 OPS. Combined with his defense and speed, those numbers had him near the top of MLB’s WAR leaderboard. After the break, his OPS cratered to .634, which was largely due to a rough August (.160/.216/.230 slash line).

Cubs assistant hitting coach John Mallee has worked with Crow-Armstrong dating back to the center fielder’s days in Triple-A Iowa and has played a key role in his swing development over the years. The outfielder said he met with Mallee and Ben Martin, the Cubs’ assistant director of Major League development, in search of what went awry with his swing.

“We just noticed when [my] setup was out of whack,” Crow-Armstrong said.

And when there was a lack of consistency with Crow-Armstrong’s setup, issues with swing decisions became more pronounced.

Crow-Armstrong ended last season with the highest swing rate (59.5%) among qualified hitters, and ranked third in both outside-zone swings (45.6%) and swinging-strike rate (16.0%). Aggressiveness is one of the outfielder’s offensive strengths, but it became more difficult to harness as his mechanics eroded down the stretch.

“Earlier in the year, all of his patterns were smaller,” Mallee said. “His stride was shorter. His separation with his hands was shorter. And as the season grew, and he had a lot of success, he started to get out of his normal patterns. He started striding too far and getting a little too stretched out, which increased his swing-and-miss in the zone.”

Crow-Armstrong said one thing he focused on over the offseason was stepping into the box the same exact way for every practice swing. It has been noticeable in live batting practice sessions this spring, too. Crow-Armstrong has crafted a routine from his footwork to how many times he taps the bat on his back shoulder, repeating the setup precisely each time.

“It’s just repping out the setup numerous, numerous times, so I can let the swing play,” Crow-Armstrong said.

The buzz phrase surrounding Crow-Armstrong right now is “swing decisions” as he tries to find a way to improve his on-base percentage (.287) from last season. If the mechanics are in line, pitch recognition usually follows. Mallee also pointed out that Crow-Armstrong’s increasing experience with MLB pitchers will only continue to help with game-planning and execution.

While Crow-Armstrong had a 4.5% walk rate in ‘25, no one is talking about focusing on that area, specifically. Drawing more walks would be a byproduct of getting all of these other concepts aligned.

“It’s just, ‘Improve,’” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “It’s not [one] thing. It’s, ‘Just keep improving as an offensive player.’ And it can be a little in that area. It can be a little better swing path. It can be a little better pitch-to-pitch emotional regulation. All of those things. Just keep all of those things improved.”

And when it all comes together for Crow-Armstrong?

“The sky’s the limit for him,” Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman said. “I feel like he can do anything on a baseball field.”