The Chicago Cubs reportedly tried to ink outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong to a massive contract extension, but the young star declined it in order to continue pushing through pre-arbitration and arbitration on his contract. He likely made this decision because he feels like his value is only going to go up from here.
Crow-Armstrong has burst onto the scene this year, quickly emerging as one of the best young players in the game. Everybody knew he was an elite defender in center field, but he's still exceeded expectations this year. He often gets to batted balls that other center fielders would have no chance of making a play on.
Alongside his incredible outfield defense, the Cubs' young star has flashed a few other impressive traits early in the season.
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Pete Crow-Armstrong could break the Cubs' modern day single season stolen base record
The only trait of Crow-Armstrong's that rivals his defense is his incredible speed and base running. In fact, his base running might be a step better than his fielding, if that's even possible.
Through 44 games, Crow-Armstrong has 13 stolen bases. The all-time Cubs record for stolen bases in a season is near 100, but that was set over 100 years ago. The modern era began in 1900 and the Cubs' single season stolen base record, post 1900, is 67, set by Frank Chance in 1903. No Cubs player has stolen 60 bases in a season since 1905 and there have only been two players to eclipse the 50 stolen base mark since 2000.
Crow-Armstrong has the ability to break 50, potentially break 60, and even contend with the modern-day record of 67 stolen bases in a single Cubs season. If he continues at this pace, he'll finish the season with around 50 stolen bases, but as the old saying goes, speed never slumps.
The young Cubs star could also join Sammy Sosa as the only members of the Cubs' 30/30 club reserved for those who hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in the same season. Sosa did it twice in the 1990's. Crow Armstrong has 11 home runs and 13 stolen bases in 44 games. He seems well on his way to joining this illustrious club at the age of 23.