Cubs hope top prospect can reignite floundering offense with latest roster move

The Chicago Cubs were a team many believed would be capable of competing in the NL Central and for an NL Wild Card spot thanks to a talented roster and the insertion of Craig Counsell as their manager. For the most part, they've lived up to the hype, but they've played their worst baseball of late.

The Cubs have lost 13 of their last 20 games and enter Thursday's series finale against the Milwaukee Brewers with a record of 28-28. They're 4.5 games back of the Brewers for first place in the NL Central and are not one of the three Wild Card teams as of now. This team has issues in the bullpen, but the main reason they've struggled so mightily of late has to do with their offense.

Chicago has hit a bit better of late, scoring six runs in three of their last five games, but they had scored more than four runs just three times in their previous 15 contests. They've scored 3.5 runs per game in their last eight games. If that had stretched out over the full season, they'd be 29th in runs per game only ahead of the Chicago White Sox.

It's important to point out the last eight games because that's when they sent their top prospect entering the season, Pete Crow-Armstrong, down to the minors. Ever since that happened, Crow-Armstrong has raked while the Cubs have struggled. With this in mind, the Cubs opted to promote him back to the majors just ten days after they sent him down.

Cubs relying on top prospect to try and reignite their offense with latest recall

Crow-Armstrong only played in seven games since being sent down but he swung the bat as well as we've ever seen him swing it. The 22-year-old slashed .387/.441/.807 with three home runs and seven RBI in those games. He tacked on four doubles and five stolen bases while playing his usual elite defense in center field.

Crow-Armstrong was sent back down to the minors earlier this month because he wasn't doing much offensively. He hit just .236 with a .659 OPS in 23 games and 63 plate appearances. While that's far from encouraging, he wasn't swinging the bat like this before earning his previous call-up.

Small sample, obviously, but PCA absolutely raked in the minors in the ten days he was there. It's unclear as to how regularly he'll see the field, but chances are if he hits, he's going to play. The Cubs need a spark, and he might very well be capable of providing one. This call-up can't hurt. It's on PCA to win the job now.