Pete Crow-Armstrong is Lighting Up Triple-A

Pete Crow-Armstrong spent the first four months of the 2023 season with the Tennessee Smokies at Double-A, and he was a stud. The number one prospect in the Chicago Cubs farm system was promoted to Triple-A in August and for the past week he's showing why many consider him a future star in the big leagues.

PCA is lighting up Triple-A and currently has a seven-game hitting streak.

On Friday night, the Iowa Cubs defeated the Omaha Storm Chasers 9-4. Crow-Armstrong went 2-for-3, walked twice, doubled, stole a base and scored three runs. After going 0-for-6 in his first two games at Triple-A, the center fielder now has his OPS up to .895 thanks to his week-long hitting streak.

The best thing about Crow-Armstrong's current hot streak is the amount of times he is getting on base via walks. In his last 36 plate appearances, the left-handed hitter has nine hits and seven walks.

PCA's walk rate is now into the double digits between his time at Double-A and Triple-A, up to 10.1%. Heading into the second week of May, Crow-Armstrong only had two walks in 88 plate appearances.

Overall this season, PCA has a slash line of .285/.376/.523, with 16 home runs, 64 RBI, 77 R, 30 stolen bases and a 133 wRC+.

Only a step away from the majors, the big question during the next month is whether the Cubs will call Crow-Armstrong up to the big leagues in September. It's not as easy of a decision as it would have been in the past, seeing that rosters now only expand from 26 players to 28. There's also the 40-man roster considerations, but that may no longer be a big hurdle because the Cubs currently have two spots free.

I am all in on brining up PCA because he perfectly fits the ideal skillset that contending teams want at the end of a bench in September. We know Crow-Armstrong can create chaos on the base paths and he's an incredible defender in the outfield. Yet, I do see the counter argument of how much will he actually get in games if he is called up?

The outfield is pretty much set with four capable players in Ian Happ, Cody Bellinger, Seiya Suzuki and Mike Tauchman. Sure, one or two of those guys could be struggling, but I just can't see David Ross all of a sudden going to a rookie in the final couple of weeks trying to get into the playoffs. I mean, maybe if a guy like Christopher Morel goes in a deep slump, he loses at-bats and with the mixing and matching PCA could get some starts in the outfield? I still doubt that scenario.

This is going to make Cubs fans annoyed, but the position player most likely getting called back up in September is probably Miles Mastrobuoni. Speedy guy, can play multiple positions in the infield and outfield.

That being said, I still wouldn't count out the possibility of the Cubs calling up Crow-Armstrong, but maybe it won't be at the beginning of September. If he keeps tearing up Triple-A, maybe he'll force their hand.