Incredible catch plus a 452-foot HR off the Wrigley scoreboard: PCA can do it all

CHICAGO -- Pete Crow-Armstrong was still finding his footing as a Major Leaguer at this time a year ago, when the Cubs gave him ample runway to learn and develop at baseball’s highest level. The center fielder is now developing into one of the game’s bright young stars.

On Tuesday, Crow-Armstrong arrived at Wrigley Field as the National League’s leading vote-getter among outfielders in the first wave of results in Phase 1 of All-Star balloting. It is a testament to how his energetic style of play -- based around elite defense, speed and surprising power -- has captured the attention of baseball fans beyond Chicago.

“It’s really cool,” Crow-Armstrong said prior to Tuesday’s 5-3 win over the Brewers. “It’s a stacked NL outfield, so it’s a nice compliment, for sure.”

Crow-Armstrong showed precisely why he has soared to the top of the voting, too. In the top of the eighth inning, he made an incredible catch in center to rob Brice Turang of a potential hit. In the home half, the 23-year-old launched a pitch from Brewers lefty Rob Zastryzny off the right-field scoreboard amid chants of “P-C-A!”

At a Statcast-projected 452 feet, it was the longest homer of Crow-Armstrong’s career and the longest for a Cubs player this season. The blast was also the hardest-hit ball (111.5 mph) of his career.

After Crow-Armstrong made his way around the bases and headed to the dugout, the chants had morphed into repeated cries of, “M-V-P! M-V-P!”

“That was my first time really getting those kinds of chants,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I definitely tried soaking it in.”

Crow-Armstrong was one of five players in the NL to garner at least one million votes in the initial results, alongside Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith of the Dodgers and Francisco Lindor of the Mets. Crow-Armstrong had 1,126,119 votes, putting him in the top slot for the NL’s starting outfield.

Per Statcast, Crow-Armstrong entered Tuesday leading all MLB defenders in Fielding Run Value (12). Per FanGraphs, he also leads MLB in baserunning runs above average (4.8) and is tied with Ohtani for the NL lead in fWAR (3.9). In 72 games, Crow-Armstrong has hit .270/.305/.550 with 19 homers, 58 RBIs, 23 stolen bases and 52 runs scored.

“Every game he plays is like two games for a normal person,” said Cubs starter Ben Brown, “just with how hard he plays.”

For Phase 1, which runs through 11 p.m. CT on June 26, the top six outfielders (or top four, if the league’s leading vote-getter from that position) advance to the next wave of voting. As things currently stand, Cubs right fielder Kyle Tucker is second among NL outfielders (704,740 votes), followed by Teoscar Hernández of the Dodgers.

If Crow-Armstrong does get to board that flight to Atlanta for the 95th All-Star Game on July 15, he is hoping to have some of his Chicago teammates along for the ride.

“It’s nice to be able to see that Tuck and I are the leading NL outfielders,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Most everybody in this clubhouse deserves those votes. I’d like to see a lot of us get sent to Atlanta.”

One thing Crow-Armstrong said he would not consider doing is the Home Run Derby.

“No, that’s not for me,” he said. “That’s a different kind of power.”

Cubs designated hitter Seiya Suzuki is currently third in voting at his position behind Ohtani and Rafael Devers, who brings his votes with him following his trade to the Giants from the Red Sox. In Tuesday’s win over the rival Brewers, Suzuki belted a three-run homer off Chad Patrick to the left-field bleachers, giving the North Siders a 4-2 lead in the fifth.

“That was the hit of the game,” Crow-Armstrong said.

Suzuki’s blast was his 18th of the season, moving him into a tie with Crow-Armstrong for the team lead for a few minutes. Crow-Armstrong has joked that he needs to homer any game that Suzuki does, and he answered with a jaw-dropping shot in the eighth for his 19th of the year.

“My first reaction was, why did he do that?” joked Suzuki, via interpreter. “But I was happy at the same time.”

With the Cubs holding a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the eighth, Turang sliced a pitch from lefty Caleb Thielbar over the gap in left-center field. Crow-Armstrong sprinted to his right, covering 69 feet in 3.8 seconds and made a lunging catch to snare the ball before it found the grass. Per Statcast, the center fielder’s jump was 9.6 feet above average.

After the grab -- one with just a 5% catch probability, per Statcast -- the Wrigley Field crowd erupted in chants of his initials. Suzuki had a one-word response when asked about the catch: “Impossible.”

“That’s why we come to the ballpark -- to see things like that,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said, “to see great players do great things, great players do amazing things.”