MESA, Ariz. — Pete Crow-Armstrong is the Chicago Cubs player who will be most directly impacted by Cody Bellinger’s eventual decision. If agent Scott Boras and Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer bridge the gap that has left Bellinger without a team at the start of spring training, then Crow-Armstrong’s path to Wrigley Field will be temporarily blocked.
Perhaps starting this season at Triple-A Iowa is the sensible decision, anyway, considering the September call-up that showed Crow-Armstrong still needs to learn how to slow the game down. But if Bellinger signs elsewhere, then it will create a bigger, immediate opportunity for Crow-Armstrong, who’s viewed as one of the game’s best prospects and the organization’s center fielder of the future.
“I love Cody,” Crow-Armstrong said. “That’s my friend. Bottom line, he was only ever really good to me, as a friend, but also as a teammate and a guy in the clubhouse. You hear the dudes talk about him. Everybody loves that guy. Everybody shares that same (feeling). But you get everything in this game by what you do on the field. If Cody comes back, that’s great. That gives us a better chance to win.”
Bellinger remained with the Cubs beyond last year’s trade deadline after Mike Tauchman’s spectacular catch at the Busch Stadium wall. Hoyer pinpointed that game-winning defensive play against the St. Louis Cardinals as the moment in late July when the Cubs simply had to become buyers at the trade deadline. At this moment, the Cubs are more interested in seeing what they have from the 2021 sell-off than signing a veteran player such as Michael A. Taylor, a Gold Glove center fielder who will be 33 this season.
If Opening Day was tomorrow, the Cubs would likely pair Tauchman, a left-handed hitter, with Alexander Canario, an outfielder acquired in the Kris Bryant trade with the San Francisco Giants. But there are still six more weeks to evaluate Crow-Armstrong, the elite defender the Cubs targeted in the Javier Báez deal with the New York Mets. The idea of Bellinger again playing center field in Wrigleyville can’t be ruled out, either.
Mike Tauchman started 64 games as the Cubs’ center fielder in 2023. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
“Tauchman’s still here, too,” Crow-Armstrong said. “There’s nothing that says Pete’s going to be the center fielder of the Chicago Cubs. There’s nothing that says I’m going to start in Iowa. I’ve played in Iowa before — and I don’t want to sound complacent about being in Triple A — but I loved Iowa and there’s another good staff there this year. If I go to Iowa, it’s just going to be trying to get back up. Tauch and Cody did such a good job (together) when they were both healthy. They’re only going to make the Cubs better.”
Craig Counsell consistently made the Milwaukee Brewers better, which is why Hoyer signed him to a five-year, $40 million contract and fired manager David Ross. Counsell’s defensive focus and trust in young talent could help push Crow-Armstrong back to Chicago faster.
In recent winning seasons, the Brewers incorporated first-round picks such as Brice Turang (2018), Garrett Mitchell (2020) and Sal Frelick (2021). Turang, a middle infielder, is an example of sacrificing offense for great defense. Mitchell, a center fielder out of UCLA, was selected one spot after the Mets drafted Crow-Armstrong. Depending on the rankings, the Cubs have anywhere from five to seven to nine of the top 100 prospects in baseball, another aspect that made this move appealing to Counsell.
“There’s a number of young players that are already here but still have growth as big leaguers left,” Counsell said. “And then there’s a big group — and I would put PCA in that group — where these are important camps just because of their exposure to a bunch of major-league players. They’re looking to make the next step. Our job is to help them take the next step. It’s usually a messy process, but it’s really fun. It is the game today. We have to have those players.”
As Boras works to find landing spots for Bellinger, Matt Chapman, Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery, this is where Hoyer, Counsell and Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts all generally appear to agree. The Cubs are wary of long-term contracts and disciplined in their evaluations of any deal. Some may see that approach as too rigid or not opportunistic enough, but that is how the Cubs are building for the future more than maximizing their chances in 2024.
“Young talent, that’s where the game is right now,” Hoyer said. “That’s the currency of baseball. That’s the part of the organization that gives me the most confidence.”
Hoyer did an exit interview with Crow-Armstrong in Milwaukee during the final weekend of last season. Crow-Armstrong, who will turn 22 next month, played only 34 Triple-A games before making his major-league debut. It showed as Crow-Armstrong looked too amped up while trying to make plays in center field and on the bases. It was a small sample size — an almost impossible situation for a young hitter to get into a rhythm — but an 0-for-14 spotlighted the adjustments Crow-Armstrong needed to make against the elevated fastball.
Hoyer raved about Crow-Armstrong’s offseason work at the team’s Arizona facility with Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly. Hoyer predicted Crow-Armstrong’s struggles would be “the best thing that ever happened to his career,” remembering how Anthony Rizzo used a similar experience with the San Diego Padres to fix his left-handed swing. Whenever the next time is, Crow-Armstrong will be better prepared.
“It gave me just the right amount of information to get a better understanding of who I need to be to be a successful big-leaguer,” Crow-Armstrong said. “That’s really what the biggest jump was, divvying up your time to get stuff done before you got to go steal a base against an All-Star catcher. It’s having the exact tips down on times for whatever you need to do to be successful there. If we’re going to talk about learning curves, it’s probably the details before you get in between the lines.”
(Photo of Cody Bellinger and Pete Crow-Armstrong: Dustin Bradford / Getty Images)
