CINCINNATI – Michael Conforto doesn’t remember too much about his first experience spending time around Pete Crow-Armstrong, during Mets spring training in 2021.
But he remembers one thing about the then recently drafted center fielder.
“I don’t remember a whole lot about him as a player back then,” Conforto said Friday, “but I do remember his want to be great. There was definitely that fire there.”
Half a decade later, Crow-Armstrong headed to the All-Star Game as, arguably, baseball’s best player. He woke up on the final day of the first half with 5.9 fWAR, more than any other position player in the game.
He’s spent the last couple months rewriting the franchise record books. In his previous 37 games coming into Sunday, he had a 1.259 OPS and 15 home runs. He hit for the cycle, delivered clutch moments, became the third Cub ever with multiple 20-20 seasons and had a June for the ages that put him in the same statistical club as guys like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.
“It puts into perspective what we’re watching,” first baseman Michael Busch said Thursday. “I feel like every time he’s at the plate, he’s getting on first base or hitting a home run or hitting for the cycle.
“You’re talking about every part of his game being at the top, which makes you one of the best players in the game. … It’s super meaningful to this team to have a guy go out there and be one of the best hitters, be one of the best defenders and base runners in the game. It’s all in one person. It’s pretty amazing.”
Jaws can keep dropping over Crow-Armstrong’s offensive exploits, his base-running ability and his Gold Glove defense in the outfield.
But what about that fire Conforto saw five years ago? What does that have to do with all these numbers?
“There’s a level of god-given ability, but you don’t get that good without really working hard on your craft,” Conforto said. “He’s the total package. He’s got everything you want in a baseball player, plus the work ethic.”
Those who get to see that side of Crow-Armstrong might find themselves gawking at what he does on the field, too, but they’re far from shocked that the guy they know behind the scenes is capable of this.
“To be honest, I’m not really ever surprised with anything Pete does on the field,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said Saturday. “He’s gifted, more than a lot of people in this game.
“When it comes to the numbers everything, none of it surprises me when he does it. I see all the ability in the world. The biggest thing that me and him always talk about is continuing to do the right things – to be himself but do the right things – and he’s doing that every day.”
Crow-Armstrong couldn’t drag the Cubs out of their first-half issues by himself as a “one-man wrecking crew,” as he put it. But he stayed hot long enough for the rest of the lineup to come to life.
He’ll be at the Midsummer Classic as the lone representative of the Cubs, who ended the first half at 54-42 with the National League’s top wild-card position, five games back of the Brewers.
“I’m proud of how hard it was for us and how much adversity was thrown our way,” Crow-Armstrong said after Sunday’s 8-4 win. “For how beat up we were, for how many guys have cycled through here, … this was a friggin’ team effort, this first half.”
The Cubs obviously have their sights on greater things than surviving an up-and-down first half and sneaking into the postseason.
As they embark on the second half, they have one of baseball’s best players – if not baseball’s best – helping them chase those championship-level goals.
“To be honest, I haven’t seen anything like it,” Conforto said. “I’ve seen great defense. I’ve seen great base-running and obviously some great hitters. But never all three happening at the same time. It’s pretty special.”