Cory Sparks

Image courtesy of © Matt Marton-Imagn Images Pete Crow-Armstrong is one of the most talented center fielders in Major League Baseball, but there’s no doubt that he has his fair share of components to improve on. Whether it’s making the routine plays in the field or having a more mature approach at the plate, the 2025 All-Star is polishing his game. Let’s dive into the areas where the Chicago Cubs’ starting center fielder is making key strides. Reevaluating Pete Crow-Armstrong's Standing With Cubs Crow-Armstrong was originally a first-round draft pick back in 2020, when the New York Mets selected him at 19 overall. A standout prep product, Crow-Armstrong’s reputation for being able to use his blistering speed both on the bases and in the outfield to close gaps made him a hot commodity in that year’s draft class. Shortly after joining the Mets’ pipeline, New York dealt him to the Cubs in a trade that involved former 2016 World Champion Javier Baez. Crow-Armstrong immediately became one of the North Siders’ top up-and-coming talents before being tabbed as the team’s top farmhand in both 2023 and 2024. After making his MLB debut down the home stretch of the 2023 season, Crow-Armstrong became an everyday starter the following campaign and has held his spot ever since. The Magical Year of 2025 The now-24-year-old made significant strides last year, enjoying a decorated season that included first career honors with an All-Star selection and a Gold Glove Award. The Cubs’ center fielder had plenty to be proud of, logging 31 home runs, 95 runs batted in and 35 stolen bases, allowing the young superstar to join the coveted 30-30 club. Crow-Armstrong’s barrel percentage ballooned above the league average, allowing him to be a more effective slugger, and in turn, clocking career bests in slugging percentage (.481) and OPS (.768). That barrel rate sat at 13.1%, nestling him into the 82nd percentile. His bat speed also skyrocketed, starting from 70.6 miles per hour (26th percentile) in 2025 to 72.7 miles her hour (61st percentile). His fielding attributes, which are really the reason he was such a highly touted prospect in the first place, were also off the charts. HIS range (24 OAA, 100th percentile), arm value (+2, 88th percentile) and arm strength (92.3 mph, 94th percentile) were on full display in his coming out year. Consequential Holes In His Game While 2025 was a banner year, Crow-Armstrong still had plenty of components to improve on. His chase percentage was one of the worst in the game, riding in at 41.7% (2nd percentile). His plate discipline was a main struggle point, and that high chase rate led to a very low walk rate of 4.5% (4th percentile). Therefore, even though he hit .247, his on-base percentage finished below the .300 mark for the second straight year at just .287. Crow-Armstrong’s strikeout rate was also well below the league average at 24% (33rd percentile). Overall, this is someone who had some electric moment and gained confidence in his ability to generate power, but much like the man he was traded for in Baez, he had trouble with balls out of the zone. Turning A New Leaf? The 2026 campaign has become another stepping stone for Crow-Armstrong, and while he still lacks day-to-day consistency, the overall trends are pointing towards a vast improvement for the Harvard-Westlake High School alum. His maturity at the plate has skyrocketed, yielding an 8.3% walk rate. It’s a rate that’s still below league average, but it’s in a much more promising spot at the 40th percentile. His chase rate of 38.5% is in the 8th percentile, which is well below the league average but still an improvement upon his 2025 mark. Even with this mild improvement, the 2025 All-Star has a career-best .343 on-base percentage, a whole 57 points clear of last year’s number. This is already one of the most talented players in the league. If he can continue to develop his plate discipline and take on a more mature play-style, the sky is truly the limit. View full article

2025 All-Star and Gold Glover Pete Crow-Armstrong is taking a step in the right direction in 2026. A season removed from a 30 home run, 30 stolen base showing, his plate discipline is vastly improving. After logging an on-base percentage south of .300 in back-to-back seasons, his chase percentage is down and his walk rate is up. In this video, we'll break down his true ceiling if he adapts a more mature playing style. View full video

Image courtesy of © David Banks-Imagn Images The Chicago Cubs have an interesting split going on. Right-handed hitters have hovered around or below a 100 wRC+, while lefties have been much better. As explored by our own @Yirsandy Rodríguez this all came to fruition even after the Cubs effectively swapped Kyle Tucker for Alex Bregman. In this article, we’ll go over three right-handed hitters who need to step up for a squad that’s aiming to turn the season around. Dansby Swanson Swanson is the first name that deserves plenty of attention. While he was once a No. 1 overall pick and has one of the better gloves in all of professional baseball, the bat has been lagging behind with his struggles lying in a couple of areas. For starters, he just isn’t hitting the ball very hard. That all starts with bat speed. Swanson is swinging, on average, at 71.2 miles per hour, putting him in the 36th percentile. That below-average metric has a domino effect on a few other analytics, as Swanson has also clocked in an average hard-hit percentage of 41.2% (49th percentile) and a below-average barrel rate of 7.2% (40th percentile). This is more than just a quality of contact issue, though. Swanson is hitting a career-worst .180 with just a .285 on-base percentage, and a huge reason for that is his lack of contact. The former Vanderbilt Commodore is striking out 23.3% of the time, dropping him in the 36th percentile among big league hitters. His whiff rate is even further below the league-average watermark, as his 30.5% mark has him in the 18th percentile. An elite baserunner and fielder, Swanson will always have a high floor. But he'll never live up to his ceiling with this kind performance at the plate. Seiya Suzuki It’s a contract year for Seiya Suzuki, yet so far in 2026, his bat hasn’t produced quite the level of production we saw from him just a season ago. While Suzuki does have nine homers in just a little over 200 trips to the plate, the real issue has lied in his in-zone contact. Suzuki doesn’t venture out of the zone much, as he finds himself in the 83rd percentile in chase rate. However, he’s whiffing almost 27% of the time, which is one of the higher marks in MLB. Suzuki’s walk percentage is up a tick, operating at 11%, a sign of his improved plate approach. Yet the 31-year-old has struggled against secondaries, with batting averages below the Mendoza line against both off-speed and breaking pitches. His hard-hit rate, barrel percentage, and bat speed are all better than the league average, so it’s really about just making contact more often and capitalizing from there. Alex Bregman Last, but certainly not least, the Cubs need more out of their star third baseman. Alex Bregman signed a five-year, $175 million contract with the North Siders this past offseason, just months removed from his one-year stint with the Boston Red Sox. Approach-wise, Bregman has done his job and proven to be a savvy veteran on this Cubs’ offense. He is among the top quarter of the league in squared-up rate (89th percentile), chase rate (88th percentile), whiff rate (83rd percentile) and strikeout rate (73rd percentile), yet the hard-hit numbers have not been there for the 32-year-old. The former Houston Astros corner infielder has a below average hard-hit rate and just a .681 OPS in his first season with the Cubs. He remains an elite defender at third base (+3 outs above average), but much like Swanson, the bat simply needs to improve to be worth the value of Bregman’s contract. View full article

Jordan Wicks was once a 2021 first-round pick. After rising up to the majors for the first time in 2023, the Cubs' southpaw has hopped back and forth between the Triple-A and big league levels. In this video, we'll dive into his struggles and why the lefty is so susceptible to hard contact. View full video

The Chicago Cubs have called up their fourth-ranked prospect in Kevin Alcantara. This is the third time in as many seasons that the speedy outfielder will make the jump from Triple-A to the big leagues. What does the 'Jaguar' need to do to make Wrigleyville his permanent home? We break it all down in this video. View full video

Image courtesy of © Allan Henry-Imagn Images Kevin Alcántara is heading back to the big leagues. In a week where the Chicago Cubs have called up two of their top five prospects, their fifth-ranked farmhand is headed to Wrigley Field to try and prove himself yet again. Let’s break down what Alcántara has been up to, what he can provide a big-league club that’s aiming to snap a painful slump, and what a realistic outlook for this outfielder looks like. Context On The Jaguar The New York Yankees originally signed Alcántara out of the Dominican Republic back in 2018. He signed for one million dollars and was scouted as a young talent with a sky-high ceiling among that year’s international class. He came over to the Cubs as a part of the Anthony Rizzo trade in 2021, when the North Siders were embarking on a rebuild, and he’s become a flashy prospect in the upper levels of the minor leagues in recent years. Now, he gets the call to show off his skillset in the major leagues for the third time in as many years. Strengths For Alcántara’s strengths, his frame jumps off of the page right away. Standing at a slender 6-foot-6 and 188 pounds, the combination of power, speed and overall ability to make rangy plays fits the bill. His best attribute is a 60-grade fielding tool, as the lengthy D.R. native has is able to cover plenty of ground out there in the outfield. His next three attributes are all a 55-grade on the 20-to-80 scouting scale. The power has really come through to start Alcántara’s 2026 campaign. Through just 41 games in Triple-A Iowa, the ‘Jaguar’ has slugged 15 home runs, a mark that’s tied for the most in the International League. The strong righty also managed to register six doubles for what is one of his career-best tallies of a .906 OPS. The run-tool sits at a 55-grade as well, and while he’s never stolen more than 15 bases in a season, the ability to stretch a base hit the extra 90 feet, and to really challenge opposing arms, is there. Lastly, Alcántara’s arm has been on display too. Just like how his wiry frame allows for a naturally long swing path, he can whip the ball into the field, showcasing an ability to be a playmaker in multiple capacities. Competition And Weaknesses If this guy has so much power, and grades as a plus defender, then why has the fifth-ranked Cubs’ prospect been sent back down to Triple-A both times after getting to the Windy City? One reason is Chicago’s rather crowded outfield. Pete Crow-Armstrong just signed a long-term deal in center field. On top of the Gold Glover’s long-term future getting secured, Ian Happ has provided Gold Glove defense in left field, while Seiya Suzuki’s slugging has justified an everyday spot in the lineup, usually slotting him over in right field. Michael Conforto has also been hanging around a .300 batting average, and after some late-game heroics, he has found himself in right field a handful of times too. Along with Craig Counsell’s talented outfield, Alcántara has struggled mightily with strikeouts. It’s an issue that’s plagued him throughout his career, and his career-worst 30 percent strikeout rate in 2025 showed that the 23-year-old still has a pretty assertive approach. It’s been the same story to start this year, as the talented outfielder struck out 60 times in 41 Triple-A games despite the uptick in power numbers. Kevin Alcántara’s Outlook What happens with the ‘Jaguar’ this time around? There are a couple of factors at play. Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki are both on contract years. Their play will determine the future of the outfield, but if Alcántara can showcase his raw skills at the major-league level and reels in his plate discipline, that could just as easily influence his immediate and long-term future with the big-league ball club. View full article

After shutting out his opponents in back-to-back starts to begin the season, Edward Cabrera has allowed at least one home run in five consecutive appearances and holds an earned run average north of six in the month of May. What is going wrong for the Chicago Cubs' right-handed pitcher? We break it all down in this video. View full video

Image courtesy of © Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images After getting shot out of a cannon to start the 2026 campaign and looking ultra-impressive, Cubs right-handed pitcher Edward Cabrera is hitting his first slump as a member of the North Siders. Today, we’ll dive into what’s gone south for him, specifically in the month of May. Setting The Table As a reminder, the Cubs acquired Cabrera in a trade for outfield prospect Owen Caissie, the jewel of their farm system who got a cup of coffee in the major leagues last season. That was a high price to pay, but with Justin Steele being set back and Cade Horton going down (among a litany of injuries that have popped up with this starting pitching staff), it looks like addressing the rotation was a pretty smart choice. Now, let’s dive into his struggles, because those very injuries make Cabrera indispensable for the team. A Rough Month Of May After a strong first couple of starts in the 2026 season, Cabrera has an earned run average north of 6.00 in the month of May. He allowed a season-high five earned runs a couple of starts ago, and he has now given up at least three earned runs in seven consecutive starts, a streak I’m sure he’d love to break Wednesday night against the Brewers. What’s contributing to this drop-off from the Cabrera who didn’t allow a single earned run over his first pair of starts? Let’s take a look. Hard Contact, XBA Quality of contact is a great place to start. We mentioned that the earned runs have spiked in the last few starts. For the culprit, look no further than the home run ball. Cabrera has allowed the long ball five times in his last three combined starts, and he has now given up at least one round-tripper in five consecutive starts. For an opposing hitter to get a home run, two factors need to go right: quality of contact and launch angle. The hard contact box is certainly checked off. Cabrera is allowing one of the highest average exit velocities of any pitcher in baseball, at 91.6 mph. That’s in the bottom 6 percent of all pitchers. Not far from exit velocity is its cousin, barrel percentage. Cabrera is getting barreled up 12.9% of the time, which puts him in the bottom 8 percent of pitchers. How about the launch angle? Well, Cabrera is allowing an average launch angle of 12.5 degrees. That’s the second-highest mark of his six-year career, and it’s not missing the watermark he set in 2022 by much, which was 12.7°. Consequently, the righty’s ground ball rate is right around league average at 44.2%. Hitters aren’t just teeing off on Cabrera, but they’re getting optimal launch angles in the process. The Sinker Is Getting Mashed Another way to slice up a hurler’s struggles is to go pitch-by-pitch. We know Edward Cabrera is known for his changeup. It’s his bread and butter, and so far, so good—for the most part. He has an opposing batting average of .241 with that selection. It’s a bit of a spike from his .203 mark a year ago, but this pitch isn’t the main issue. The sinker is yet again looking like his Achilles heel. A year removed from a campaign wherein Cabrera’s sinker was hit at a clip of .370, he’s allowing a .364 opposing batting average. This is far and away the highest of any of the five options in his arsenal. Brighter Skies Ahead? On the bright side, Cabrera still has five options to choose from. Pitchers who have a more limited list of pitches are sometimes stuck with what they have, but Cabrera has the changeup, curveball, sinker, four-seamer and a slider. The changeup is supposed to be one of the most lethal weapons in the game, and I think he can be one of the more impressive righties out there with it. Now it’s just about keeping the ball down and preventing hard contact. View full article