Pete Crow-Armstrong is one of baseball’s most exciting players.
But the thing exciting the Cubs the most about their star center fielder these days?
It’s not the home runs, the clutch hits, the base-swiping speed or his jaw-dropping defensive ability in the outfield.
It’s that he’s taking his walks.
Crow-Armstrong has had an utterly ridiculous month at the plate, carrying an outrageous 1.243 June OPS into Tuesday night’s game against the Padres, a number boosted by his reaching base four times a night earlier in the Cubs’ walk-off win.
Crow-Armstrong scored the winning run in the ninth, but the next-day compliments were reserved for what Crow-Armstrong did three innings earlier, drawing a walk against Padres reliever Adrian Morejon, who came in with only seven walks issued in 42 innings this season.
“We enjoy some of the smaller things,” Cubs skipper Craig Counsell said when asked about Crow-Armstrong’s never-ending exploits, “but that walk [Monday] night against Morejon was a great at-bat where Pete was really in control of the at-bat against one of the best left-handed relievers in the game.”
His teammates, some pretty top-of-the-line walkers among them, were equally impressed.
“Those things are just generally a reflection of the confidence he has in his at-bats and the trust to take borderline pitches and really know what he wants to hit,” second baseman Nico Hoerner said. “The walk he had off Morejon last night in a big spot, everyone on their feet, one of the best lefty relievers in the game, just pass it on to the next guy? Impressive.”
Crow-Armstrong walking isn’t news because it’s new to this team. It’s become a talking point because he’s doing something this group has made a staple of its identity.
The Cubs, even with their extended period of offensive malaise early in the summer, are baseball’s walk kings, coming into Tuesday with 377 of them, more than 30 more than the next highest team total, owned by the division-leading Brewers.
The Cubs ranked near the top of the sport in on-base percentage — fifth, with a .336 mark — and led the game with a walk rate of 11.2 percent.
As the bats have heated up over the last couple weeks, the walks have been part of the recipe. The Cubs walked four times Monday against the Padres after drawing 18 in three games against the Brewers, including a quartet against flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski last Friday.
During a four-game sweep of the Mets in which they scored 33 runs, the Cubs drew a combined 17 free passes.
“We have a roster that’s very capable of guys getting on base,” left fielder Ian Happ said Saturday in Milwaukee. “Obviously, we’re up there in the league in on-base percentage, just finding a way to get on base.
“The [first two games of the Brewers series], though starting pitchers have done a great job against us, the pitch counts have been up there a little bit. We definitely did that in New York, too, and got guys out of the game quick.”
Crow-Armstrong and first baseman Michael Busch rank in the top 30 in the sport in on-base percentage. Busch and Happ rank in the top 30 in walk rate. Busch, Happ and third baseman Alex Bregman all rank in the top 30 in walks.
Formerly slumping shortstop Dansby Swanson broke out in New York, but even when the numbers were their ugliest, he was proud of a career-best walk rate. Busch, like Crow-Armstrong, has received shoutouts for improving plate discipline – he came into Tuesday with 13 multi-walk games, the second highest total in the National League – even with his power numbers down from a season ago.
It’s a team-wide thing on the North Side, much like the defense that is the backbone of this squad, and it’s fueled an offensive rebirth in the middle of the season.
The Cubs came into Tuesday having won 13 of 17 games. In that span, since June 11, they led baseball with 108 runs scored – and 83 walks.
For all the thrill Crow-Armstrong brings and all the walk-off wins that have sent Wrigley bonkers, it’s the presence of the pedestrian base on balls that figures to be key to the Cubs reaching their championship-level goals.
