Pete Crow-Armstrong's Exemplary Defense Keeps Setting Records

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Image courtesy of © David Banks-Imagn Images

Amidst all of the talk over who the Chicago Cubs might trade for before the trade deadline tomorrow, I find myself distracted by Pete Crow-Armstrong. It only makes sense, right?

After all, this is the year of Pete Crow-Armstrong. You can point to the offseason acquisitions of Kyle Tucker and Matthew Boyd all you want, but the fact is that the Cubs would still be much closer to the middling team of the past couple of seasons without the sudden, and frankly unexpected, breakout of the young center fielder. 

You see, in last Tuesday’s win over the Kansas City Royals, Crow-Armstrong broke a record that I wanted to take a second to acknowledge. There was no mid-game ovation for it. There was no score bug signifying the accomplishment. It happened, and just as quickly as it happened, it was just another play in just another regular season game. In fact, Boog Sciambi, the terrific play-by-play voice of the Cubs, barely even interrupted his statement about liking the music on the previously read advertisement to call the play:

 What’s so significant about that catch? Because he had to cover 60ft in 3.8 seconds, that ball had a catch probability of 25 percent, according to Baseball Savant. The first significance of that catch is just how easy Crow-Armstrong makes this stuff look. Most of us probably didn’t think twice about that catch. A lesser center fielder doesn’t get to that ball, or has to dive to even make contact with that ball. The Cubs’ center fielder, though, catches that on his two feet, and as previously mentioned, the play-by-play announcer doesn’t even raise his voice. 

With a catch probability at 25 percent, that makes that a five-star catch for Pete Crow-Armstrong. This means he now has 13 five-star catches this season, officially breaking the record for the most such catches in a season. Byron Buxton had 12 five-star catches in 2017, and Billy Hamilton had 12 of them in 2016.  Buxton, it should be noted, had 1,143 innings in the field in 2017, and 26 opportunities to make a five-star catch. Hamilton had 1,175 ⅓ innings in the field and 22 opportunities to make a five-star catch in his own exemplary campaign. Through Sunday’s action, Crow-Armstrong has just 917 ⅔ innings in the field and 20 opportunities. 

Let this be a reminder to all of us about what truly makes Pete Crow-Armstrong great: he is a generational defender at a premium position. We can all doubt the validity or sustainability of the offensive numbers. I still do. He swings way too much for me to believe he is as good of a hitter as he has been to this point this season. 

In fact, we might be seeing his absolute ceiling this season at the plate, and that’s okay. It very well could win him the National League Most Valuable Player award. He doesn’t have to post a 137 wRC+, as he currently has to this point in 2025, to be an incredibly valuable player. He just has to keep racking up five-star catches in center field. And that, I am certain he will do.

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