Bullet point summary by AI
- One Chicago North Sider has transformed his approach at the plate this season, showing marked improvements in discipline and versatility.
- The player’s reduced swing and chase rates have led to a significant increase in walks, forcing pitchers into riskier situations.
- His newfound ability to handle left-handed pitching has elevated his game to elite levels, suggesting lasting impact rather than a fleeting surge.
In the first half of 2025, Pete Crow-Armstrong looked like a clear NL MVP candidate, a true two-way phenom … before it all fell apart at the plate in the second half. PCA’s offensive woes down the stretch caused some Chicago Cubs fans to believe he’d be a one-hit wonder as a hitter.
Well, after hitting his ninth home run of June on Saturday, it seems like PCA is on a similar path, currently sitting on 16 home runs, 40 RBI and an .880 OPS to his name to go along with his usual Gold Glove-caliber defense and elite base running. He got off to a slow start, but is now leading the NL in fWAR.
While it’d be understandable for Cubs fans to be nervous about another second-half collapse, there’s reason to believe this year’s PCA breakout is more sustainable than the last one.
Pete Crow-Armstrong is walking much more than he did in 2025
Part of why PCA’s first-half breakout last season felt like a mirage was that he lacked any sort of plate discipline. He was swinging at just about everything that came his way, and rarely took his walks. This season has been different.
|
PCA in 2026 |
PCA in 2025 |
MLB average |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Swing rate |
52% |
60.1% |
47.3% |
|
Chase rate |
37.9% |
41.7% |
28.5% |
|
Walk rate |
8.3% |
4.5% |
8.4% |
Don’t get me wrong, PCA remains one of the most aggressive hitters in the sport. He still swings and chases far more than most players, and isn’t carrying an elite walk rate by any means. With that being said, his swing rate is down by over eight percent, and his chase rate is down by nearly four percent. The result of that has been his walk rate nearly doubling. That’s right: PCA went from ranking in the fourth percentile with his 4.5 percent walk rate in 2025 to walking nearly as much as the average big-league hitter.
While I wouldn’t call Crow-Armstrong selective by any means, he’s been far more patient this season than he was in 2025. That newfound patience forces pitchers to throw him more strikes, and in turn, PCA is doing his share of damage. Pitchers can’t exclusively throw pitches out of the zone anymore and expect him to beat himself, and that’s a big deal.
Pete Crow-Armstrong is hitting left-handed pitching
Beyond his chase rate, another thing that held PCA back in 2025 was his ability, or lack thereof, to hit left-handed pitching. Crow-Armstrong ended the year with a rock-solid .838 OPS against right-handed pitchers, but that dipped to .594 against lefties. Crow-Armstrong’s 59 wRC+ against southpaws was tied for 142nd out of 148 qualified hitters. He’s been a different kind of hitter against lefties this season.
|
PCA in 2026 |
PCA in 2025 |
|
|---|---|---|
|
wRC+ vs. LHP |
136 |
59 |
|
wRC+ vs. RHP |
145 |
129 |
All of a sudden, PCA isn’t just a one-trick pony. He’s still crushing righties, as he did in 2025, but he’s able to hit lefties at an elite clip, too. I mean, his 136 wRC+ against lefties is tied with proven stars like Cody Bellinger and Matt Chapman. It’s above guys like Juan Soto and Mike Trout. Is that good? It’s not like a sample size of 104 plate appearances is microscopic, either.
Crow-Armstrong is a balanced hitter, and that makes pitching to him that much more difficult. That also makes it feel as if his first-half numbers can sustain throughout the year.
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