One day after the Chicago Cubs scratched outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong from their lineup with hamstring tightness, the 22-year-old is expected to return to the lineup.
The Cubs will host the San Diego Padres on Tuesday in a 3:05 p.m. start. Crow-Armstrong will play centerfield and bat seventh, easing Cubs fans’ concerns that his removal on Monday was anything other than precautionary. He also called the injury “nothing out of the ordinary,” according to The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney.
Crow-Armstrong is coming off of a standout rookie season where he quickly established himself as one of the best centerfielders in the game. Baseball Savant put him in the 97th percentile in outs above average and the 98th in arm strength. Additionally, he was one of the fastest players in the game, with a sprint speed in the 99th percentile.
That translated into eight outfield assists for Crow-Armstrong and 27 stolen bases in 123 games.
His production at the plate is still a work in progress. He hit for only an 88 OPS+ with a .286 on-base percentage, but he finished the season on an absolute tear. Over his final 49 games, he hit seven of his 10 home runs, had a .286 average and .801 OPS.
“Pete is still going to go through ups and downs,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell told The Athletic this week. “We just have to keep him headed in a good direction. It’s great for everybody that we saw a two-month stretch that Pete could do that. Now we just have to continue to get better, become consistent, shrink the slumps and that’s what you continue to do.”
Pete Crow-Armstrong is already playing for an extension with the Cubs
Crow-Armstrong won’t hit free agency until 2031, but if he can establish himself as one of the true young stars in baseball this season, the Cubs may reward him.
If Chicago is interested in locking up Crow-Armstrong before his value (and price tag) balloons, the organization could look to give him an extension. Crow-Armstrong already has that in his mind.
“I still gotta go get a full 162 to really deserve that,” Crow-Armstrong said, per The Athletic. “But I’m always open to that conversation with them. They’re really good at being straightforward with us, with me at least. That’s been my experience with (team president Jed Hoyer) and (GM Carter Hawkins). I’m gonna leave it up to them. I still gotta prove a little bit more in my eyes.”
Sahadev Sharma, who wrote The Athletic story, brought up Corbin Carroll as a parallel. The Arizona Diamondbacks signed him to an eight-year, $111 million extension after just 32 career games. Michael Harris II and Ezequiel Tovar also signed early extensions, so the move has plenty of recent precedent.
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