What happens when a player separates himself from the balance?
The Cubs, with their National League Central-leading start that is beginning to feel like something that will last through September, have elevated themselves to being one of the most-talked-about teams in baseball this season because of their balance. Especially at the plate. The stats don’t back it up (even as they lead the league in runs) the same way the ‘‘feel’’ does. The ‘‘feeling’’ when anyone in their lineup walks up to the plate exceeds the team’s actual .261 average (fourth in MLB).
But what happens when one player distances himself from that feeling? Rises above it? Makes us feel something more?
The headline read: ‘‘New York Mets acquire star SS Javier Baez from Chicago Cubs for OF prospect.’’ That was at the end of June 2021. The same day the Cubs traded Kris Bryant, the day after they traded Anthony Rizzo. The building was being torn down, brick by brick. A ‘‘prospect’’ at the time wasn’t the answer. Until now.
Pete Crow-Armstrong has gone from ‘‘prospect’’ to ‘‘best-kept secret’’ to ‘‘future of the franchise’’ in the span of the first nine weeks of this season. And while he might not be the main reason why the Cubs have become the ‘‘darlings of the NL,’’ he definitely has become the one the spotlight found.
Simply put, he has arrived. His performance last weekend in the Crosstown Series against the White Sox became his ‘‘My Name Is . . .’’ party. He went 8-for-14 (.571) with a home run, two triples, eight RBI and 16 total bases. This week, he has moved from hitting leadoff (with Ian Happ coming off the injured list) to batting cleanup and hearing ‘‘MVP’’ conversations everywhere with his name attached to them.
Chants are soon to follow.
Maybe it was the number change that changed everything. Changed him. That ‘‘4’’ sure would be the easy way to look at it. But if we are keeping this a full 100, then we know that if PCA still had the number ‘‘52’’ under his last name, we’d still be talking about him. He’s closing in on Caleb, Connor and Angel territory. With the whole city believing Williams, Bedard or Reese had next, Crow-Armstrong in a short period — even with the ‘‘prospect’’ expectations lingering over him since he arrived — has busted through that ‘‘Savior of Chicago sports’’ crowd.
The city needs him right now. Needs his energy, aura and presence as much as his slash line, defense and baserunning. His perfect blend of ‘‘Bro’’ and ‘‘Brah.’’ That all-77-neighborhoods cultural middle ground. Cali-cool at the same time he does his postgame media interviews with his hoodie’s hood on. ‘‘Hollywood Pete,’’ as Cubs Baseball Channel’s Mick Gillispie calls him. Not bad for a guy less than four years ago we were calling ‘‘Prospect Pete.’’
The Kool-Aid is as blue as the stars that were dyed in his hair, and everyone is drinking it.
The next Bryant, the Baez replacement, the Kyle Schwarber eclipse. All of the promise the Cubs had on their roster at one time can now be condensed into the one player who actually has a chance to be better than all of them. All he has to do is keep doing everything he’s doing between the foul lines, win a World Series or two, sign one of those Juan Soto/Vlad Jr. contracts and stay in a Cubs uniform for at least the next eight to 10 years. No pressure, though.
Here’s a weird PCA comp: SGA. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was considered a ‘‘prospect,’’ too, in 2019 when he was part of the trade to get Paul George to L.A. to play with his friend Kawhi Leonard, same as Baez getting to New York to play with his friend Francisco Lindor. Baez in N.Y. never worked out, PG in L.A. didn’t work out. SGA this week just won the NBA’s MVP. PCA this week just entered into MVP conversations. Both are EA Sports cover-ready. Both have their own ‘‘only them’’ styles that each sport needs. Both are engaging in ways that connect with fans and media. Then there’s their identifying three-letter acronyms that have become their full names.
Weirdly accurate.
On March 24, CHGO Cubs podcast co-host Patrick Norton, when speaking on a ‘‘Bold Predictions for 2025’’ episode about who would be the Cubs’ MVP this season, said the following: ‘‘So who, if you remove him from this team, does this team become immeasurably worse? To me, the invaluable player on this team is Pete Crow-Armstrong. If you take him out of center field, if you take him off the basepaths, if you take him out of the lineup, this team I don’t think can survive.’’
Prophetically accurate.
And in a game where stats rule, here’s the Sneaky Hembo one: PCA is one of three Cubs (Kyle Tucker and Nico Hoerner are the others) who’s hitting higher than .300 with two outs. No other team in MLB has two. There’s the balance. PCA being PCA, the separation.
There’s a difference between being one of the best players in baseball and someone who is playing the best baseball. One is an actual thing, the other is simply a moment. PCA is in that moment right now. Living on the edge of becoming that thing.