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 -- Before the start of each home game, Pete Crow-Armstrong will wrap up his warm-up throws in center field and then turn to the Wrigley Field bleachers. Fans to his left and right will cheer in hopes of getting the souvenir baseball, and Crow-Armstrong will scan back and forth to find his target.
Before a recent home game, Crow-Armstrong sent his toss to a young fan holding up an “M-V-PETE” poster at the Friendly Confines. He has quickly won over Cubs fans with his dynamic play this season, but the center fielder has also captured national attention based on his status as the leading vote-getter among National League outfielders in the early returns of All-Star voting.
“It’s a stacked NL outfield, so it’s a nice compliment,” Crow-Armstrong said recently.
That stacked NL outfield is down to six candidates for the All-Star starting lineup, following Phase 1 of balloting. Crow-Armstrong paced the NL outfield voting with 3,021,265 tallies -- one of six players overall to garner at least 3 million votes -- and will have Cubs right fielder Kyle Tucker with him among the finalists.
Beginning Monday, fans can choose between Crow-Armstrong, Tucker, Ronald Acuña Jr. (Braves), Teoscar Hernández (Dodgers), Andy Pages (Dodgers), and Juan Soto (Mets) in Phase 2, which opens at 11 a.m. CT and runs through 11 a.m. CT on Wednesday. Cubs catcher Carson Kelly is also up against Will Smith (Dodgers) for a spot in the starting lineup, too.
The All-Star Ballot will continue to be available exclusively online and via mobile devices at MLB.com/vote, all 30 club websites, the MLB App and the MLB Ballpark App. Fans may vote once per day during Phase 2, with the daily voting limit resetting each day at 11 p.m. CT.
Yankees slugger Aaron Judge (4,012,983) and Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani (3,967,668) automatically earned spots in the American League and NL starting lineup, respectively, after leading their league in votes in Phase 1. Crow-Armstrong has a strong chance of joining them on the field for the 95th All-Star Game on July 15 in Atlanta.
“Being able to share the field with guys like Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, all that’s great,” Crow-Armstrong said. “But I see it as, I get to do that every day with Tuck and [Ian] Happ. I’m just trying to be another piece in the puzzle to what the Cubbies are doing. It’ll be cool if it happens.”
In 83 games this season, Crow-Armstrong has hit .262 with 21 home runs, 20 doubles, 62 RBIs, 59 runs scored, 25 stolen bases and an .836 OPS. He already became the fastest Cubs player in team history to reach a 20-20 season. Tucker has hit .291 with 17 homers, 18 doubles, 52 RBIs, 20 steals and a .932 OPS in 83 games. Kelly has 9 homers with 26 RBIs and a .827 OPS in 53 games.
The Cubs have had 10 sets of outfield teammates make the All-Star team in the same year (11 occurrences), but the North Siders have not had a pair of outfielders in the starting lineup since 1936 (Frank Demaree and Augie Galan). Kosuke Fukudome (2008) is the last Cubs outfielder to be in an NL starting lineup (Dexter Fowler was voted in as a starter in ‘16, but did not play due to injury).
Kelly is trying to join Willson Contreras (2018, ‘19 and ‘22), Geovany Soto (2008) and Gabby Hartnett (1934, ‘36-37) as the only Cubs catchers to start an All-Star Game for the NL.
If the Cubs get two All-Stars in the starting lineup, that will be a first (regardless of position) since Contreras and Javier Báez were on the 2019 NL team together. If all three finalists get in, it would be the first time Chicago had at least three in an All-Star lineup since ‘16, when Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Ben Zobrist and Anthony Rizzo made up the entire NL infield.
“I take pride in being able to say I’m one of many Cubbies that are getting a really nice nod,” Crow-Armstrong said of the early voting results. “Because most everybody in this clubhouse deserves those votes. I’d like to see a lot of us get sent to Atlanta.”