PCA is my 2026 NL MVP.
What he’s doing for the Cubs this season is unbelievable.
Stumbling into the 2021 trade deadline, the Cubs decided it was time for a retool, dealing key pieces from their 2016 World Series-winning team. Rizzo was traded to the Yankees, Bryant to the Giants, and Javy Báez to the Mets. In return for Báez, the Cubs got the Mets’ No. 5 prospect, Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Originally, the Cubs wanted the Mets’ No. 3 pitching prospect, Matt Allan, but he was made untouchable by the team, so they pivoted.
Up to this point, PCA had missed most of his professional development. The MLB canceled the 2020 season due to Covid, and he missed almost the entire 2021 season with an injury. Overall, the Mets viewed him as an injured prospect with an unproven offense.
The Mets were 55-47 at the deadline and saw Báez as a piece who could help their playoff push, not PCA.
Regardless of what the Mets thought, when he was acquired, scouts viewed him as an elite defensive center fielder with great speed and the potential to become a top-of-the-order hitter.
As soon as he got to Chicago, he showed flashes. Across two seasons in the Cubs’ farm system, he slashed .297/.370/.516 with an .886 OPS, recording 36 home runs and 143 RBIs.
He flew through the minors. After just two full seasons, he found himself in Triple-A, and after a little more than 30 games there, the Cubs called him up.
With just 17 games remaining in the 2023 season, he made his debut against the Colorado Rockies. He went 0-for-4 and ultimately finished the rest of the season 0-for-14, including seven strikeouts.
That was not what Cubs fans wanted to see.
He had little to no plate discipline and no concept of the strike zone.
It felt a lot like when the Cubs called up Javy Báez.
A defensive superstar with immense potential who struggled at the plate.
He spent the first month of the 2024 season in Triple-A but was eventually called up after Cody Bellinger went on the IL with a rib fracture.
In his first game back and 17th MLB at-bat, he got his first big-league hit: a home run against Astros righty Bryan Abreu. It was a major sigh of relief for PCA.
But unfortunately for him, it was not a sign of things to come.
In his next 57 at-bats, he managed a .246 AVG, .306 OBP, and .622 OPS and was ultimately sent back down to Triple-A.
He spent only 10 days there, tearing up the pitching, and would spend the rest of the year with the big-league club.
His ups and downs were on full display throughout the season, but the breakout seemed imminent.
As the season was winding down, things started to click for the speedy center fielder. In August, he hit .314 with four homers and a .933 OPS, by far the best month of his young career.
Would he be able to carry this momentum into his first full year in the big leagues? It seemed so.
Early in the 2025 season, he had remarkable success and soon emerged as one of baseball’s best all-around players. By the All-Star break, he was hitting .265 with 25 home runs, 71 RBIs and 27 stolen bases. He became the first player in MLB history to reach 25 homers, 25 steals and 70 RBIs before the break and trailed only Shohei Ohtani in the NL MVP odds.
After playing at an MVP level for most of the first half of the season, PCA fell into a major slump, batting just .188 with a .532 OPS and hitting four home runs across August and September. Those struggles carried into the postseason, where he batted .185 with a .399 OPS.
After he struggled to end the 2025 season, I didn’t know what to think of PCA.
Could he put an entire season together? Or would he be that streaky hitter who struggles at the plate for a long period of the season?
Well, it seems he has answered the question.
To date, PCA is batting .283 with 38 home runs, 91 RBIs, 32 stolen bases, and an NL-leading .954 OPS. On top of that, his 38 homers trail only Kyle Schwarber, who has 40.
PCA’s 2026 season has been filled with tons of legendary moments. Against the Mariners, he became just the sixth player ever to hit a leadoff home run and a walk-off home run in the same game. More recently, he hit five home runs in 11 at-bats against the Reds, becoming the only Cubs player to do that against the Reds since 1968.
It’s not an overstatement to say PCA has been the best player not just in the NL, but in all of MLB.
In 2021, when we traded for him, and in 2023, when he was called up, I could not have imagined he would reach these heights so quickly.
The playoffs are nearing, bringing better pitching and bigger moments. Needless to say, I would not want anybody else in those moments more than Pete Crow-Armstrong.