Chicago Cubs: Pete Crow-Armstrong’s June is ATG-level, per stats company

The Chicago Cubs lineup unloaded in a big way Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field against the Toronto Blue Jays. Their 16-2 thrashing of last season’s American League champs offered great hope that the team was finally coming out of its offensive doldrums.

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Among the hitting heroes of the game was center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong who, before being taken out in the seventh inning, was 3-for-3 with two walks, an RBI, and two stolen bases.

But for all the jarring run production coming from Cubs bats, PCA’s day wasn’t all the surprising when looking at the absolute tear he’s been on.

A historic run

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According to OptaStats, the 24-year-old’s recent run is actually at a historic level:

There have been over 5 million total 18-game spans by players in MLB’s modern era.

In none of them did a player have as many hits, doubles, triples, homers & steals as the
@Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong over his last 18 games:

34 hits
5 doubles
2 triples
9 home runs
6 stolen bases

That’s a crazy stretch of offensive excellence when one considers the large body of data analyzed by the online stats and analytics company.

Crow-Armstrong’s ranking among MLB hitters supports just how special his month has been so far.

In June, the young star has been as elite as elite can be. Here is his MLB ranking in several key offensive stats:

No. 1 in Hits (29)
No. 1 in Home Runs (8)
No. 3 in Stolen Bases (6)
No. 1 in Batting Average (.433)
No. 3 in On Base Percentage (.473)
No. 1 in Slugging (.910)
No. 1 in OPS (1.383)

On the season, PCA is leading all position players with a WAR of 4.6, ahead of Bobby Witt Jr. (4.3) and Kevin McGonigle (4.0).

He’s also tied for top dog in Defensive WAR with Andy Pages (1.7)

This recent June explosion is noteworthy because of how tame Crow-Armstrong’s season was up to this month. Up until the very end of May, his power numbers were comparatively minimal and his batting average was below league average. For example, he had just 6 home runs in the morning of May 30 and he’s now at 15 on the year.

The key mental adjustment

PCA attributes the boost in production to being able to adjust his mindset and shrug off some of the self-imposed pressure.

“Earlier in my career, I think I definitely let that be something other than it was,” Pete Crow-Armstrong told reporters after hitting for the cycle last Monday. “I think it was [John Mallee] that had the conversation with me, but in those moments, every bit of good energy is behind you. So seeing it like that, where I think earlier that made me a little nervous.

“I felt like I ‘had to’ instead of I ‘get to’ go hit in this really cool moment with this crowd of 40,000 pulling for me. And I think I’m just learning how to use that to my advantage instead of making me shake in my boots when I’m up there and wanting to get the job done so badly.”

Whatever he’s doing, it’s clearly working—and for the Cubs’ sake he needs to keep doing it.

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-pete-crow-armstrongs-stats-june-atg/