Pete Crow-Armstrong opts against Home Run Derby

Crow-Armstrong’s home run was his 23rd of the season. He hit a two-run shot off Ron Marinaccio in the seventh inning. His stolen base was his 26th. After hitting a double and a home run on Friday night, Crow-Armstrong’s offensive domination continued against the Pirates on Saturday. He’s hitting .291 with a .934 OPS and 59 RBI.

PCA doubled in the third inning, but made his biggest impact in the sixth when he drew the Cubs even with the Pirates after blasting a solo homer off starter Jared Jones to tie the game at 1-1. It was the 22nd homer of the season for Crow-Armstrong, who homered for the first time since his two-homer night on July 8th. With one week left to go in July, Crow-Armstrong is slashing a solid .288/.447/.593 with 10 RBI and nine extra-base hits.

It’s the fourth time in his career that Crow-Armstrong has reached base safely, with three of those coming within the last two months. He’d entered the night in a little 2-for-26 slump, but with the way his plate discipline has improved, it just doesn’t seem at all likely that he’ll suffer a second-half swoon to resemble last year’s. He’s at .285/.384/.521 for the season, and he’s walked 52 times in 101 games this year after doing so just 29 times in 157 games last season.

Michael Conforto, Carson Kelly and Seiya Suzuki joined Crow-Armstrong in homering for the Cubs. Crow-Armstrong’s first was just 94.2 mph off the bat, but it traveled 350 feet anyway. The second was hit 106.7 mph and was projected at 419 feet. Crow-Armstrong also walked and scored a third run in the contest. He’s the first player to go 20/20 this year, having totaled 21 homers and 23 steals. Last year, he finished the first half with 25 homers and 27 steals, though he went on to add on just six homers and eight steals after the break. He’ll probably slow down some this year, too, but the improvement in his plate discipline makes it unlikely that he’ll again experience such a dramatic decline.

Chicago’s 23 runs are the most they’ve scored in a game since 1995, and their eight homers tied a franchise record. PCA has been on an absolute heater lately, and he finished June with a .381/.468/.781 triple slash line before homering on the first day of July. The former Mets prospect has more than doubled his walk rate from last season, and he’s now up to 19 homers and 21 stolen bases on the year. Crow-Armstrong isn’t running quite as aggressively as he did in 2025, but all the extra times on base could lead to him beating the 35 thefts he accumulated last season.

With the pair of steals, PCA is now up to 20 on the season. That puts him just under a 40 stolen-base pace, and the way he’s gotten on base — he drew three walks Sunday — suggests that he’s going to have a chance to reach that figure in 2026.

Crow-Armstrong also added a single. The 24-year-old doubled home Matt Shaw in the 10th to give The Cugs their lead and ultimately the victory. He’s doubled 13 times in 2026, and he’s up to 45 runs driven in on the season, putting him right around a 90-RBI pace. After a very slow start to the season, Crow-Armstrong has been brilliant with the bat. The question is if he can consistently be this level of player through a full season. If he can, he’s going to be one of the best players in baseball for a long time when you consider how great he is with the glove.

Crow-Armstrong was also involved in the game’s most controversial play; he tried to steal second on what was ball four to Michael Busch in the seventh, only to be called out after touching and then coming off the bag on his slide. Of course, PCA was entitled to second base with the walk, but once he came off the bag on the slide, that protection ended. Craig Counsell was tossed out for arguing the play, but technically, it was all called correctly. The Cubs went on to win 9-6 anyway.

Crow-Armstrong’s tear at the plate did not stop on Saturday against the Blue Jays. After drawing a walk in the fourth inning, he took Lazaro Estrada deep for a two-run blast in the sixth. He later added a base hit in the eighth to reach for a third time. The 24-year-old outfielder is now hitting .286/.363/.521 with 16 homers, 47 runs scored, 40 RBI, and 18 steals across 329 plate appearances.

He was pulled for Justin Dean after five plate appearances as the Cubs made the score a little too lopsided. We doubt fantasy managers are too upset with the results. Crow-Armstrong, hitting .237/.325/.388 at the end of May, is now hitting .283/.359/.510 and has added eight homers and five stolen bases over the last 15 games while slugging .937. Enjoy the ride.