Four years later, the dust has pretty much settled now on the Chicago Cubs 2021 fire sale. The “core four” and more were all shipped out, in exchange for mostly prospects, many of which resided at the lower levels of the minor league system at the time. Pete Crow-Armstrong has proven to be the only one of those wild card, longshot bets to pay off for the Cubs.
But wow has he ever! His current stats are as follows: 268, 18 HR, 57 RBI, 16 2B, 3 3B, 51 R, 23 SB, .840 OPS
Through the first two-and-a-half months of the season, Crow-Armstrong, a man whose name barely fits on the back of his jersey and only does so with a very high degree of arc, is perhaps the Cubs MVP.
Crow-Armstrong currently sits atop NL outfielders with 1,126,119 All-Star votes, which ranks third-most in the NL overall. Crow-Armstrong, bidding for his first All-Star selection, is followed by his teammate and three-time All-Star Kyle Tucker of the Cubs (704,740)
Drafted 19th overall in the 2020 MLB Draft, by the New York Mets, he was traded at the 2021 deadline for Javier Báez and Trevor Williams.
It was all part of the Cubs tear-down of the nucleus of the team that ended the World Series drought in 2016 and made three straight NLCS appearances 2015-17.
The Cubs really weren’t going to win anything more significant, with that core nucleus, as the 2018-20 seasons had shown us.
Still, a big reason for that is Ricketts stopped substantial spending on players after the Yu Darvish signing in ’18.
And while a series of white flag trades were inevitable, as it was the only way they were going to rebuild again, the Cubs didn’t get much of anything, outside of Crow-Armstrong, in return.
Injured at the time, Crow-Armstrong was shocked that he got dealt.
“I didn’t feel like I was a part of any trade talks that I had seen on TV or anything like that.” he told reporters a couple months after the Mets sent him to the Cubs. “I had a sling on my shoulder… I thought it was a joke.”
Flash forward to the present, and we have another Mets connection- their superstar slugger Pete Alonso leading the Major Leagues in runs batted in.
Entering Monday night’s action, he had 61, With PCA’s teammate Seiya Suzuki 4th in MLB, with 54 RBIs. Crow-Armstrong is 5th with 53.
Trying to surpass, or even catch Alonso is going to be a monumental task. As RG.org points out, Alonso’s 226 homers since his 2019 debut are second in all of baseball behind only the New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge (232).
Of course, Crow-Armstrong has something Alonso really doesn’t- top notch speed. PCA’s penchant for stealing bases makes him a very rare commodity in baseball these days.
He’s got a speed and power combo that puts him in rarified air, and he’s already made some history.
When he achieved his 20th stolen base of the season, Crow-Armstrong became the fourth-fastest player in the modern era (since 1900) to hit 15 home runs and steal 20 stolen bases in a season, hitting those benchmarks in just 60 games.
He also broke new ground in the come from behind 13-6 win at the Cincinnati Reds. Crow-Armstrong hit his first career grand slam that day, the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.
His prolific day on offense saw him become the first Cubs player with two six-RBI games in a calendar month since RBIs actually became an official stat in 1920.
And while Crow-Armstrong was already a stellar defensive player entering this season, 2025 has seen him become a tour de force at the plate as well.
Chicago Cubs Best Outfield in Baseball Series
LF Ian Happ CF Pete Crow-Armstrong RF Kyle Tucker
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter
