ATLANTA — This place is filthy with first-time All-Stars — 15 on the American League side, 15 more on the National League side. That’s got to be close to 30 in all.
The list includes some guys with real buzz around them. It’s hard to top the Mariners’ Cal Raleigh and his 38 home runs, or the Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski and his 103 mph heaters.
But there’s only one Pete Crow-Armstrong, people. When you’re bumping elbows with baseball’s elite in home runs, RBI and stolen bases, leading all NL players in WAR, hunting 40-40 glory and the closest thing there is to a challenger to Dodgers megastar Shohei Ohtani for NL MVP — and doing it all with bewitching flair — you’re quite the big deal. And judging by the public displays of affection for the Cubs center fielder coming from his All-Star peers, the fan favorite at Wrigley Field is fast becoming one of the “it” names in the sport.
PDAs for PCA are everywhere.
“The things he does on a baseball field, how he tracks balls down, the power, the speed — it’s what you want in a guy that plays center field. and he does it all at an elite level,” said the Twins’ Byron Buxton, who’s been among the better players at the position for the last decade. “To me, being on the other side, to watch him do the things he does is special — special for the game.”
Said Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan: “He’s just so impressive. When I first saw him, I was like, ‘Whoa, this dude has a chance to be really good,’ and I’ve enjoyed watching him have so much success as long as it’s not against us. I’m happy for him. He fires me up.”
Donovan has twice seen Crow-Armstrong pop Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas for two home runs in a game — once last summer and once this month. Five Brewers pitchers have been on the business end of PCA blasts this season, among them All-Star Freddy Peralta.
“That kid has a lot of energy,” Peralta said. “He plays the game how you want to see people playing the game. It’s very exciting to watch him. He got me in Chicago, and that wasn’t fun, but what can I say? He’s doing what he wants.”
Crow-Armstrong, 23, knows he has earned the plaudits, along with a start in Tuesday’s game (he’ll bat ninth, two spots after teammate Kyle Tucker) and has appreciated the “respect” he has felt here from other players. It feels almost as good as the love he receives daily from the Wrigley bleachers.
“That’s still the coolest part,” he said. “I was excited going into this year because I knew we had a chance to be really good, and I knew things kind of change around the city when we are good. We definitely owe that to the city. We pack that place every day, Monday through Sunday, 30 to 100 degrees. It means everything, getting the recognition from [Cubs fans] that I have impacted their day somehow.”
#Cubs pic.twitter.com/E4zIjyGDdo
— Steve Greenberg (@SLGreenberg) July 14, 2025
Fans haven’t been this lit up by a Cubs player since shortstop Javy Baez’s “El Mago” act blew up in 2016. Before that came Kyle Schwarber’s Babe Ruth impersonation in 2015. Those two players were as much spectacle as ballplayer, and Crow-Armstrong not only is doing likewise — he might be doing it at even higher levels.
Schwarber, now with the Phillies, asked a Cubs staffer in the NL clubhouse Monday, “Does that kid act like he plays? Because he plays like his hair is on fire.”
Yes, indeed, was the answer.
“He looks like such a fun player,” Schwarber said. “He doesn’t even need to hit 30, 40 homers to be a very high-caliber player. If that guy’s hitting .270 to .300 and causing havoc on the bases, he’s going to be a perennial All-Star for the Cubs and in the conversation for some top [awards] in the league.”
Crow-Armstrong said Baez, now a Tigers center fielder and the AL starter, was “gracious and amazing” when the two players — traded for each other at the 2021 deadline — met on the field last month.
“I’m happy for what he’s doing,” Baez said. “He’s a really good athlete, and he’s having a great year. Hopefully he stays healthy and keeps doing what he’s doing.”
Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll, a USA Baseball teammate of Crow-Armstrong in 2018, admits he didn’t see this coming.
“He’s always been a super dynamic player,” Carroll said, “but honestly I don’t even know if I envisioned the kind of impact he’s had with the bat this year. It’s a testament to him and his hard work and the growth he’s had. I’m really happy for him as a friend and peer.”
The Cubs’ front office probably wishes it had been as aggressive in trying to extend Crow-Armstrong’s contract as the Diamondbacks were with Carroll, who signed an eight-year, $111 million extension before his first full big-league season. Carroll, now a two-time All-Star, went out and won the NL Rookie of the Year Award.
Crow-Armstrong is gunning for higher honors than that. And speaking of gunning, Tucker’s favorite PCA moment came in an early-season game against the Diamondbacks — a monstrous throw from deep right-center to nail a tagging runner at third. Only in the retelling, Tucker struggled to remember if the out came at third or at home.
“I guess it wasn’t that special then,” Tucker joked. “Besides, he does it every day.”
And the whole baseball world knows it.