This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian’s Cubs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
CHICAGO – Twins second baseman Brooks Lee did not even attempt a tag – it was too late. Lee stepped in front of second and received the throw standing up on Wednesday, as Cubs rookie Pete Crow-Armstrong slid in safely behind him for a stolen base in the third inning.
That theft made Crow-Armstrong a perfect 22-for-22 in steal attempts this year for the North Siders, putting him in rare air in that department. Since both leagues began tracking caught stealing in 1951, only Mitchell Page of the 1977 A’s has started a rookie season with more consecutive steals (26) without being thrown out.
“A lot of the work that we did in the beginning of the year was more of a confidence thing,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Confidence in moving forward. That’d be my biggest takeaway. You’ve got to want to steal the bag to steal the bag.”
The 22-year-old Crow-Armstrong is one of the fastest players in baseball, rating in the 99th percentile in Sprint Speed (30.1 ft/sec), per Statcast. Simply being swift does not always cut it, as the young outfielder learned last year. Crow-Armstrong went 2-for-4 in stolen-base attempts with Chicago last September, following a 37-for-47 showing in the Minors in ‘23.
Cubs first-base coach Mike Napoli, who has worked extensively with Crow-Armstrong on baserunning techniques, felt the last year was a Major League wake-up call of sorts; it was a good thing in the long run for the rookie.
“It was almost good what happened to him,” Napoli said. “It was almost like, ‘Hey, I need to slow down and play baseball.’ And we had a lot of conversations about, ‘OK, you’re fast. We’re not just going to out-run the baseball up here.’ You can get away with some of that stuff down in the Minors, but there’s so much more attention to detail here.
“It’s fun to see him coming up here and – after kind of failing at first – realizing real quick that, ‘Wow, it’s different.’ And then wanting to study and look up pitchers, get on the video, get the stopwatch out during the game. It’s been really cool to see.”
While one caught stealing down the stretch would remove Crow-Armstrong from this list, he is currently tied with Alcides Escobar (2013 Royals) for the third-most steals without being caught in a single season (since 1951). Trea Turner boasts the record (30 for the ‘23 Phillies) with Chase Utley (23 for the ‘09 Phillies) next on the list. PCA is well beyond the Cubs’ mark of eight (Moises Alou in 2002).
Napoli said he used to bring observations about opposing pitchers, catchers and defenses to Crow-Armstrong to spark conversations about in-game strategy for trying to steal a bag. More and more, the first-base coach is now having the rookie be the one who spots things and brings them to Napoli.
“I think it’s amazing. It's what it takes,” Napoli said. “Instead of going up to him and trying to give him something, I wait for him to give me something. And then I'll kind of give a little bit more if I agree or disagree. He's done a really good job of really recognizing some of the stuff we go over and then just bringing it into the game and trusting his eyes and competing.”