Pete Crow-Armstrong Appreciation Thread

[BKHoo]

Who is the PCA comp?  By that I mean if this kid fulfills his potential - who has come before him that he would most resemble? 

[Bobson Dugnutt]

44 minutes ago, BKHoo said:

Who is the PCA comp?  By that I mean if this kid fulfills his potential - who has come before him that he would most resemble? 

The first two pages of this thread are full of posts suggesting comps.

[CubinNY]

1 hour ago, Bobson Dugnutt said:

The first two pages of this thread are full of posts suggesting comps.

The answer is Mickey Mantle 

[Derwood]

PCA had 27 steals as a rookie

Mantle’s single season high was 21

I also don’t think PCA will have a career OBP over .400

[Backtobanks]

5 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

The answer is Mickey Mantle 

Obviously, you didn't ever look at Mickey Mantle's stats.

[CubinNY]

13 minutes ago, Backtobanks said:

Obviously, you didn't ever look at Mickey Mantle's stats.

It’s a joke! 

[Derwood]

ha ha ha, sure it is

[Clem Fandango]

15 hours ago, BKHoo said:

Who is the PCA comp?  By that I mean if this kid fulfills his potential - who has come before him that he would most resemble? 

I really think you need to comp his possible consistent year to year upside to a player season rather than a career because there's honestly not really been anyone like him. Lots of 5 tool cf'ers for sure, but they all did one or two things better or worse than PCA. Trout is a big comp but I don't think he actually has 40+hr/yr potential.

 

With that in mind I'd like to bring back up my suggestion of 2013 Carlos Gomez. His surface level stat line was:

 

.284/.338/.506/.843 

27 doubles

10 triples

24 homers

40 stolen bases vs 7 caught stealing (85% success rate)

3.6 dWAR

7.6 rWAR

 

And I genuinely think those are numbers PCA could consistently hit year after year after seeing him perform the way he has so far, with variance to over and underperform that by a bit year to year, but stay in that ballpark.

Edited May 11, 2025 by Clem Fandango

[jersey cubs fan]

On 5/10/2025 at 7:12 PM, CubinNY said:

The answer is Mickey Mantle 

 

On 5/10/2025 at 7:19 PM, Backtobanks said:

Obviously, you didn't ever look at Mickey Mantle's stats.

Good point. PCA is way behind on alcohol imbibed and women assaulted 

[jumbo]

On 5/11/2025 at 8:26 AM, Clem Fandango said:

I really think you need to comp his possible consistent year to year upside to a player season rather than a career because there's honestly not really been anyone like him. Lots of 5 tool cf'ers for sure, but they all did one or two things better or worse than PCA. Trout is a big comp but I don't think he actually has 40+hr/yr potential.

 

With that in mind I'd like to bring back up my suggestion of 2013 Carlos Gomez. His surface level stat line was:

 

.284/.338/.506/.843 

27 doubles

10 triples

24 homers

40 stolen bases vs 7 caught stealing (85% success rate)

3.6 dWAR

7.6 rWAR

 

And I genuinely think those are numbers PCA could consistently hit year after year after seeing him perform the way he has so far, with variance to over and underperform that by a bit year to year, but stay in that ballpark.

These numbers but more dWAR? Or same?

[squally1313]

2 minutes ago, jumbo said:

These numbers but more dWAR? Or same?

Fangraphs, not BR, but Gomez was 7th in baseball in defensive value, 3rd among non-catchers (Machado and Andrelton Simmons), so probably similar value between that and PCA as the best defensive outfielder. 

[Clem Fandango]

I was mostly looking at it from the perspective of Gomez's offensive numbers feeling very much like what PCA could do consistently, with the defense being elite. His numbers that year seem very comparable to PCA's trends and skillset.

Edited May 13, 2025 by Clem Fandango

[We Got The Whole 9]

Right now PCA has 9 dwar and no other player has 7. Platinum glove incoming. The offense can be league average and he is still a 6 or 7 win player. If he is 20% better youre looking at the best Cubs season since Sosa. 

[Rcal10]

21 minutes ago, Clem Fandango said:

I was mostly looking at it from the perspective of Gomez's offensive numbers feeling very much like what PCA could do consistently, with the defense being elite.

I don’t see PCA putting those numbers up year after year. I would even say I don’t think he will ever have a year like Gomez had that year. I think a good offensive year for him would be more like .260/.310/.480. Still very good. 25-30 homers and 50 SB. Which, with his defense would make him an amazing ballplayer. I am just not convinced he will hit  to that high an average or for that much slug for an entire season. 

[Derwood]

I hope he excels in the leadoff spot. He needs to realize that the pitches he'll see ahead of Tucker/Seiya are much different than he saw at the bottom of the order. His .300 OBP won't hold up at the top of the order long term

[CubinNY]

1 hour ago, Derwood said:

I hope he excels in the leadoff spot. He needs to realize that the pitches he'll see ahead of Tucker/Seiya are much different than he saw at the bottom of the order. His .300 OBP won't hold up at the top of the order long term

It wasn't a great night for him last night, but he did show some discipline in pitch selection. Pat mentioned that he asked the ump if the pitch he swung at was a strike. All good stuff. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

I feel like a decisive PCA is a tick late in his swing and it's causing the big contact issues to pop up again. I'm just not sure you're ever going to see the patience and the production together.

[CubinNY]

PCA is a stud. If he can remain injury-free, the sky is the limit. 23 years old. They better not horsefeathers this up like they did with Maddux. 

[Clem Fandango]

He's now 0.1 fWAR away from matching his entire 2024 output, and has already surpassed his HR production from last year as well.

[squally1313]

In the last calendar year he's put up 5.0 fWAR, good for 21st offensively in baseball. And that's with a .395 OPS in June and a .611 OPS in July. 

(Fun asides on that leaderboard: Aaron Judge has 13.8(!!!) fWAR, Dansby is 17th, Happ is 34th, Seiya is 49th, Tucker is 51st in 81 games, Hoerner 57th, Busch 100th).

Fun with arbitrary end points, he's 6th since August 1st, 4th this year. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

Since 2018 PCA ranks 25th among MLB OF in Fielding Run Value, a cumulative stat.

 

Thats absolutely wild.

[CUBDOM4life]

 

[Derwood]

First player in Cubs franchise history with 12 HR, 30 RBI, and 10 SB through first 45 games

[Stratos]

PCA had 2.7 fWAR last season.  He's already surpassed that this season and its mid-May (and that was before today's game).  On pace for 9.5 WAR.

There's basically nothing he can't do on a diamond besides take a walk.

[We Got The Whole 9]

He's horsefeathers insane. I'm not gonna worry much about a 4% walk rate if it comes with a 400 ISO. He's just an XBH machine.