Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Chicago Cubs are counting on their young center fielder to bounce back after a rough start to the 2026 season
- A key offensive approach issue is causing PCA to struggle with weaker contact and limited power output.
- Despite the current offensive slump, his elite defensive skills and base-running abilities continue to provide significant value.
Pete Crow-Armstrong looked like a budding MVP candidate in the first half of last season, when he hit 25 home runs, stole 27 bases and had a .847 OPS while playing elite center-field defense. Unfortunately, the second half was a nightmarish one offensively for PCA, and those struggles have carried into the 2026 campaign.
Crow-Armstrong is slashing .236/.276/.306 with one home run and five RBI in 18 games this season. Making matters worse, he's striking out over 30 percent of the time, an even higher rate than we saw in 2025. It looks bad, especially after Crow-Armstrong inked a six-year, $115 million extension with Chicago just before Opening Day, but I'm here to tell Chicago Cubs fans that things won't always be as ugly as they look right now.
What's going wrong for Pete Crow-Armstrong?
Before discussing why things shouldn't be this bad for PCA, let's dive into the problems with his offensive game this season. First and foremost, Crow-Armstrong, as Cubs fans know all too well, is a free swinger. He's up there trying to do damage in each at-bat and is willing to expand out of the zone to come up with a big hit.
This can be a blessing and a curse. It's always fun watching an aggressive hitter, but Crow-Armstrong's chase rates are astronomically high. He ranked in the second percentile with a 41.7 percent chase rate last season, and is in the first percentile with a whopping 49.3 percent chase rate so far in 2026. Now, Crow-Armstrong doesn't strike out quite as much as someone who chases so much typically would, but chasing out of the zone will often result in weaker contact. Pitchers do not have to throw him strikes, and that makes it harder for Crow-Armstrong to do damage.
Additionally, Crow-Armstrong is hitting the ball on the ground more and pulling the ball in the air much less than he did in 2025.
Statistic | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
GB% | 33.5% | 46.8% |
Pull Air% | 30.2$ | 21.3% |
Hitting the ball on the ground greatly limits the potential to do serious damage, especially for someone with PCA's middling raw power. Not pulling the ball in the air has the same result: Crow-Armstrong didn't have the best batted ball metrics last season, but he was able to have such an elite power year because he pulled the ball in the air a ton. He hasn't done that quite as well this season, and that, coupled with some brutal Wrigley Field weather, has resulted in a poor start.
Pete Crow-Armstrong will improve offensively
It's been a major slog for Crow-Armstrong at the plate. To put it into perspective, he's slashing .221/.266/.355 with just seven home runs in 80 games since the 2025 All-Star break. His 70 wRC+ is good for 139th out of 145 qualified hitters over that span.
As bad as things look offensively, though, it's hard to imagine they'll remain this bad. He'll have a hard time if he continues to chase and not pull the ball in the air as much, but these are workable issues. He's going to have to adjust his approach, but why should anyone think he's incapable of doing that? It's easy to forget that he just turned 24 years old in March. Pitchers have adjusted to him, now it's time for PCA to adjust back.
And even if Crow-Armstrong never returns to those star-level offensive heights that we saw in the first half of 2025, Cubs fans shouldn't freak out — because he's still a valuable player.
Pete Crow-Armstrong's floor will always be high
While the big offensive year certainly helped raise his value, the Cubs didn't choose to extend him because of what he can do at the plate. Crow-Armstrong was such a desired player even before his offensive breakout because of what he can do in the field and on the base paths.
Defensively, Crow-Armstrong is as good as it gets. He has a cannon of an arm and seemingly infinite range at arguably the most valuable position in the sport. Crow-Armstrong finished last season tied for the MLB lead with 24 outs above average, and he's tied for first this season with four outs above average. He won a Gold Glove award last season and is likely to contend for future ones consistently.
On the base paths, Crow-Armstrong already has four stolen bases this season and averaged 31 steals over the previous two seasons. His speed allows him to not only wreak havoc when it comes to stolen bases, but taking the extra base is a big part of his game. These little things are easy to miss but can lead to several runs over the course of a full season.
The traits that make Crow-Armstrong a star are his defense and base running. There's a reason that even while struggling mightily at the plate, he's been a positive WAR player this season. What he does offensively is only gravy. Now, the Cubs need more than what they've gotten from him at the plate recently, but as long as the speed and defense remain elite, Crow-Armstrong will always have a ton of value.
Knowing that they have that to fall back on, Cubs fans should feel a little better when PCA isn't quite as impressive at the plate.
More Chicago Cubs news and analysis:
Add us as a preferred source on Google