Pete Crow-Armstrong hasn’t had the second half he would’ve wanted.
A prodigious first half for the Chicago Cubs’ exciting centerfielder has been followed by something much closer to a whimper. But even with that in mind, PCA has still had a historic season.
On Wednesday, Crow-Armstrong reached the 70 extra-base hit plateau.
He’s the first National League centerfielder to have 70 or more extra-base hits in his age-23 or younger season since Andruw Jones in 2000, according to @JayHayKid.
The 23-year old lefty, at the time of the feat, has 37 doubles, four triples and 29 home runs.
Even with his second-half struggles, PCA has a .774 OPS and 90 RBI.
He’s also an expert base stealer, with 35 swipes in 42 attempts.
And none of that factors in Crow-Armstrong’s centerfield defense which, much like Jones’, is as good as anyone in baseball.
Crow-Armstrong has a way of gliding to wherever the ball is going and reeling it in casually no matter the actual difficulty of the play.
His biggest area to improve in the future is in his plate discipline and coverage. During these struggles, Crow-Armstrong has struck out a lot while swinging at a lot of pitches outside the zone and walking rarely.
If PCA can improve on that front, he’ll be even that much more dangerous going forward.
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