LOS ANGELES — The nickname wasn’t always PCA.
“He was Petro,’’ said Jared Halpert, who coached Pete Crow-Armstrong at Harvard-Westlake School, the high school baseball powerhouse in suburban Los Angeles, about 16 miles northwest of Dodger Stadium, where family members and friends have gathered all weekend to watch PCA play center field for the Cubs.
“He was Petro,’’ Halpert said, “because he played like he was on fire and very cool. Yeah, yeah, he was. He was Petro to us for a long time. There was no second gear or slowdown. It was all gas and no brakes and he’s going 100 miles an hour.
“And it was a beautiful thing to watch somebody just play with that much passion, you know, all the time.’’
Sound familiar? It should.
“He’s always someone who told us this was his dream, he wanted to go play in the big leagues,’’ said Drew Bowser, who became friends with Crow-Armstrong not long after hitting a home run off a 7-year-old Pete in a Little League All-Star tournament. Pete was pitching for Sherman Oaks, Drew was the star of the league in the town next door, Encino.
“But I think more than words, it was his actions, the way he showed up every day, the way he played every day,’’ Bowser said. “Like the version of him that Cubs fans see right now, laying out for balls and playing super hard? That’s the same way he would play in a Harvard-Westlake fall scrimmage on a Sunday morning at 9 a.m. There’s no difference.’’
There is never a time, said Bowser, who was speaking by phone from South Bend, Indiana, where he plays second base for the Cubs’ high-Class A farm team, that someone doesn’t ask him about the home run during a PCA-related interview.
“Every single time they’ve mentioned it,’’ Bowser said. “It just speaks to how special the relationship is, the fact that we’re still great friends.’’
That friendship first blossomed at around the age of 12, when they played travel ball together. It continued at Harvard-Westlake, a tight bond formed between two very different people, according to Halpert.
“We knew of Drew when he was breaking records in the Encino Little League,’’ Halpert said. “This was this monster in stature, you know, a young man with a smile from ear to ear and his big old dimples.
“Pete and Drew both were fierce competitors, but couldn’t be more different. And really in every way, I would say, right down to Pete’s translucent skin, you know, and Drew’s much more attractive tone.
“But It was evident very soon that they both marveled in each other’s successes and abilities. It turned into just a wonderful, healthy, competitive relationship where they both just relentlessly pushed each other.’’
Halpert said he first laid eyes at Pete when he showed up for a USA Baseball event for players 12 and under. Pete was there with his buddies, Sam and Tyler and George, who all came wearing their purple Clash travel-team uniforms. These were the boys who played Wiffle ball in Pete’s backyard, the one in which his Cubs-loving dad Matt, who grew up in Naperville a high school football star, had installed an ivy-covered wall.
“And this pasty little white kid, you know, comes strolling in,’’ Halpert says, “and it’s like, it’s not hard to see that this kid’s probably got a shot. Wow. This little ball of energy is different than everybody else.’’
Roadblock
But as gifted athletically as he was even as a freshman, Pete did not dislodge Harvard-Westlake’s incumbent center fielder, R.J. Schreck, which might have seemed baffling given the gap in skill set. But you don’t see the PCA you see today, Halpert said, without R.J. Schreck.
“R.J. couldn’t do anything better than Pete,’’ Halpert said. “I don’t think he could even tie his shoes better than Pete. Pete could literally run a circle around R.J. in a straight line. Pete as a freshman was better than R.J. at everything — except being a baseball player.
“R.J.’s thought process and maturity along with toughness, R.J.’s reads and intelligence and preparation offered a lot to Pete as a young, growing player.’’
Schreck, who played college ball at Duke and is now playing for Toronto’s Triple-A team, the Buffalo Bison, downplays the impact he made on PCA’s ascent to the big leagues.
“I played a very small part in who he became,’’ Schreck said. “I think everything, like all the flash we see pregame from him, it all comes from a place of trying to get better. That’s something Halp did a really good job of teaching us, learning how to catch the ball in different ways than the standard ball, glove, eyes.
“Learning how to catch it in different ways is helping with hand-eye coordination, understanding where the glove is in space. And you see that reflected in games where he makes all these catches when he’s not able to look the ball in the glove. That comes from practicing catching the ball behind your back in BP and doing other different things to just understand where your glove is in space.’’
Schreck said he also was able to impart what he knew about reading swings and understanding what the hitter is trying to do in relation to the pitcher. PCA’s grasp of those things is why he is able to get such phenomenal jumps and run down balls out of reach of many outfielders.
‘A real friendship’
Harvard-Westlake went to the state finals when Pete and Drew were juniors and lost. Their senior year was wiped out by COVID-19. Drew and R.J. and others on that team went to college, then were drafted. PCA was taken in the first round by the Mets, then traded to the Cubs. They all stay in regular contact.
“He’s always kind of been his own person,’’ Schreck said. “And I think the older he’s gotten, the more he’s flourished into that. I think he’s really understood kind of exactly who he is, and he doesn’t really deviate from that. He’s always fun to be around.’’
For the last three springs, Bowser has stayed with PCA in spring training. Bowser’s mom, Yvette, went with Ashley Armstrong to see Pete play in Japan last season. If you think Pete being a big leaguer has changed how he views his friends, you don’t know Pete.
“Myself, my entire family, we’re incredibly proud of him,’’ Bowser said. “We’re so happy for him. That stuff never put any awkward feelings on our friendship, because I think everyone is working toward their dream. A real friendship is when you’re proud and super happy for your friends and their accomplishments. Pete’s the same way for me and in my corner.’’
