How PCA took his elite defense to another level

This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian’s Cubs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO – Reds star Elly De La Cruz sent a hard-hit, sinking line drive over the right-center-field gap at Wrigley Field earlier this month. In a flash, Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong was there, making a catch as he shifted from his feet into a sliding finish across the grass.

That play on Aug. 5 was the type of difficult defensive grab that Crow-Armstrong has made look routine. Thankfully, Statcast can capture why such catches are elite. On the one in question, Crow-Armstrong got a jump 9.5 feet above average, covered 60 feet in 3.5 seconds and snared a ball with a 15% catch probability.

“When a ball gets hit and then you kind of look to the outfielder, some outfielders are just starting to move,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said earlier this season. “And it feels like Pete’s already ran three steps. That’s kind of the layman’s way to describe it. And that difference, that’s 10 feet or that’s 15 feet.”

Highlight-reel catches are fun to watch because of the finishing play. A dive. A sliding grab. A leap at the wall. But none of those displays are possible without what happens when the ball meets the bat.

Crow-Armstrong -- an elite defender dating back to his days as a prospect -- has found a way to take a step forward in that area.

In Spring Training, Cubs third-base coach Quintin Berry and first-base coach Jose Javier -- new additions to Counsell’s staff -- were looking to help Crow-Armstrong to improve his already-elite defense. They pored over video and data and came to the center fielder with the idea of altering his initial move in the field.

They discussed having Crow-Armstrong introduce a “prep step” similar to what infielders do when a pitch is delivered. There is a small bounce or hop that puts the center fielder in motion ahead of contact, as opposed to reacting to the ball from a ready standing position.

“My biggest piece was like, ‘All right, what can we give this young man who’s so talented already?’” Berry said. “And him being receptive to it, being willing to say, ‘OK, I can get better at this,’ and not saying, ‘I’m already great. I’ve been great my whole life,’ it speaks volumes about who he is as a player and person and his willingness to get better. That was the most eye opening -- how easy it was to go to him with this and how willing he was to take the information and go out there and use it.

“He found his way of how he wanted to do it, and that's what I wanted. Be you. Javy put this video together, and he understood it right away. It didn’t take long at all, and he’s been tearing up the stat sheet ever since.”

As MLB.com’s Mike Petriello recently wrote, Crow-Armstrong is piecing together what could go down as the best outfield season on record. He has established a new single-season mark with 14 five-star catches (0-25% catch probability) and has an MLB-best 19 Outs Above Average, putting him in range to challenge Byron Buxton’s 2017 record (27).

Under the hood, Crow-Armstrong has posted an 80.3% success rate on catches rated two-stars or higher (0-90%), which is up from 73% last year. His jump has improved to +3.9 feet this year from +2.8 last season. And his reaction (feet covered in first 1.5 seconds in any direction) is up to 1.8 this year from -0.2 in ’24.

Crow-Armstrong credits his coaches for helping him unlock another few feet of coverage.

“They really gave me good statistical evidence as to why and analytical evidence as to why being in motion would be better for me,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I was standing still last year. I was pretty stagnant. So we’ve got just like a real infielder move now. … An object in motion stays in motion. And I think being in motion has also given me a little bit of wiggle room, because I’m trying to be late to the ground.

“I want the ball to be hitting [my glove] when I’m just about to hit the ground, so I can be as in motion as possible. I think already being moving actually saves me, if I break the wrong way or if I get a bad first step. Already moving is still faster than getting a better read while standing still.”