A lot more goes into signing with a new team than most fans think about. It involves learning new teammates and coaches, getting around a new city and moving the family with you. In the case of Alex Bregman and his new five-year, $175 million deal with the Cubs, he had to bring along his wife, Reagan, and two young sons, Knox and Bennett.
Luckily, 3-year-old Knox already has a new best friend.
Bregman revealed in a Players’ Tribune story this week that Knox and Cubs superstar Pete Crow-Armstrong have quickly become “buds.” Bregman wrote that Knox was playing a bit sheepishly with a wiffle bat and ball one day at the club’s Spring Training facility in Arizona. And then “PCA” showed up.
Crow-Armstrong started to pitch to Knox, Bregman wrote, and it helped break the ice. It allowed Knox to show off the swing his dad called “legit” with a “big ‘ol leg kick.” This went on for a full half hour.
When Bregman and Knox boarded a flight with Team USA to get to the World Baseball Classic a while later, Knox had an epic reaction to seeing Crow-Armstrong on board: “HEY IT’S MY FRIEND!!!!!!!!”
Crow-Armstrong and Knox played around on the plane, and again, it broke the 3-year-old out of his shell. Knox started to go around to every superstar on the plane, Bregman wrote. He’ll imitate them when playing wiffle ball at home.
But none get as much playing time as Crow-Armstrong. And if Bregman and Crow-Armstrong ever FaceTime to talk ball or whatever else, Knox always pries the phone from dad to talk to his buddy.
“So yeah, Knox is pretty much a PCA superfan at this point,” Bregman wrote.
Bregman made his Cubs debut on Thursday as the club lost, 10-4, to the Nationals. He went 1-4 with a walk. His Players’ Tribune essay went on to talk more about his decision to join the Cubs and why Chicago felt like the right fit.
Crow-Armstrong, fresh off a new six-year extension worth at least $115 million, went 2-for-5 with a pair of RBIs. And Knox was probably somewhere celebrating awfully hard for both hits.
Just wait until PCA launches his first homer of the season.