Chicago Cubs 2025 Position Analysis: Center Field

Even with the addition of Kyle Tucker, the middle of the Chicago Cubs’ 2025 outfield trio has the potential to be the most thrilling component of a very solid roster. This is, of course, due to the second-half emergence of Pete Crow-Armstrong.

Crow-Armstrong doesn’t just represent upper-90s percentile in speed, baserunning, and defense. He flashed offensive upside last year that could serve as an effective enough supplement to the elite parts of his game to make him one of the very best outfielders in the sport. That might seem like hyperbole. But the tools that are there are loud. If he can hit well enough, then he immediately becomes a must-watch player for a team that hasn’t really had one since Javier Báez. 

I’m not sure to what extent the Cubs’ 2025 fortunes rest on the shoulders of PCA. But I do know that his performance in the upcoming season could go a long way toward contention.

CUBS CENTER FIELDERS AT A GLANCE

Starter: Pete Crow-Armstrong
Backup: Vidal Bruján (?)
Depth: Jon Berti, Travis Jankowski
Prospects: Kevin Alcántara

Cubs fWAR Ranking Last Year: 9th (3.0)
Cubs fWAR Projection This Year: 3.2

THE GOOD

By fWAR (in a minuscule sample), only a dozen position players were better than Pete Crow-Armstrong last August. He accumulated a 1.4 figure during the month, slashing .314/.375/.558/.933. His strikeout rate came in at a season-low 14.3%, while his walk rate was his best in an individual month (8.2 percent). He ISO’d .244. The entire offensive performance culminated in a 154 wRC+. He fell back off in September, but that end-of-July-into-August stretch has compounded with a strong start to the spring (pre-hamstring tightness) to generate some really high expectations. 

We know the defense is elite. We know the baserunning is there, too, given the 99th percentile sprint speed. PCA can be a four-plus win player on the merits of those components alone. But if he can be even a sliver of the player he was at the tail-end of the summer, you’re looking at a special player manning the center of the outfield grass for the next several years on the North Side.

THE BAD

Of course, the caveat to all of that lies in the approach. In the article linked above, @Matthew Trueblood dove into PCA’s tendencies in September, when he’d regressed following that torrid August stretch. At the very least. there was still an all-fields approach that should serve him well moving forward. His (lack of) discipline, however, remains a source of concern.

Among hitters with at least 400 plate appearances, PCA’s 59.2 Swing% was the fourth-highest of a group that includes 207 position players. His 43.5 Chase% was the seventh-highest. Neither his 15.8 Whiff% and 73.2 Contact% were in places in which you’d like to live. During August, he cut the chase down to 36.0 percent and bumped the contact up to nearly 80. It showed that with a more measured, patient approach, Crow-Armstrong can maximize his offensive production. The extent to which that comes to fruition, though, is very much a matter that falls under "to be determined". 

THE BOTTOM LINE

There is a fairly strong expectation of growth from Pete Crow-Armstrong in 2025. We know what he can do with the glove, and we know what his speed looks like on the bases. There’s tremendous value there. Even if the bat is a zero, he can be a strong contributor on a contending team. But now that we’ve seen what he can do with a more refined approach, expectations should shift. Improving the plate discipline is an imperative for the young outfielder. The good news attached to that is that PCA seems very much like the type of cerebral player capable of implementing such improvement over a longer stretch. 

If that happens, the takeoff will be real.