The Short Porch is checking in on Pete Crow-Armstrong’s defense
Well, the Cubs weren’t going to win each sport regardless of their longest successful streak since 2016. They most likely aren’t going to lose each sport both, though they’ve seemed overmatched in their final three contests in opposition to the Dodgers and Padres as they began a three-game shedding streak. As all the time with baseball, the true Cubs crew is someplace in between.
The Cubs bullpen has a surprising variety of accidents held collectively by hopes and prayers, however fortunately for a pitching workers constructed on pitching to contact, the Cubs defense has (largely) held whereas they attempt to climate the storm. I say largely as a result of Ian Happ getting a day at DH yesterday made left discipline much more adventurous than any of us would love, however that is a put up for an additional day. Today, I’d prefer to look on the brighter aspect of issues, particularly, the elite defense Pete Crow-Armstrong contributes to the Cubs, like this incredible catch in Los Angeles [VIDEO].
I’m unsure if that took away a house run from Teoscar Hernández, nevertheless it definitely robbed Teo of additional bases. What strikes me about that play is simply how calm and straightforward all of it appears like PCA casually tracks the ball, heads to the wall, generally his leap and snags it. Speaking of robbing additional bases, take a look at how simply he steals this double from Santiago Espinal in Saturday’s game [VIDEO].
Pete Crow-Armstrong is not merely a terrific defensive centerfielder. He’s not solely one among the best defenders in MLB by Outs Above Average. Pete Crow-Armstrong is a class distinction in phrases of outfield defense in the Statcast Era. He makes performs different gamers haven’t any shot at, he makes them routinely. Check out the 2026 catch chance leaderboard sorted by OAA:
PCA has three extra outs above common than each of the following two gamers, Chandler Simpson and Cam Smith. But it goes past that. He’s caught 71.4 p.c of the five-star alternatives he is had this season. If you type that chart by proportion the one folks forward of him are Steven Kwan and Evan Carter who’ve every had one five-star alternative that they’ve caught. If you scan that chart for guys who’ve had no less than 5 alternatives, the following man up by proportion of catches made is Fernando Tatis, Jr., who has had six alternatives and caught two of them. Good for a wonderfully acceptable and elite 33% of five-star catch alternatives made. PCA is not simply making unattainable catches, he is doing it with an ease that makes me surprise what number of of these alternatives of his simply do not even present up on the radar of different gamers.
He’s not merely nice by the requirements of 2026, both. I ran that very same desk for yearly of Statcast information, which principally offers information again to 2016 and restricted it to guys with no less than 100 alternatives to filter out the random one offs. I sorted this one by p.c of 5 star catches first, as a result of it extra successfully demonstrates how elite the defensive stratosphere PCA is flying in right here:
The very first thing that jumps out is there is usually a commerce off for these gamers between proportion of catches made and OAA. That is smart, as you’ve gotten extra alternatives, you miss extra, so the odds go down because the OAA goes up. However, the second factor that jumps out right here is that nobody, throughout any time in the Statcast Era, has made greater than 50 p.c of their five-star catches, besides Pete Crow-Armstrong.
I additionally ran that desk by OAA so you might evaluate it to the 2026 leaderboard. OAA is a counting stat, so enjoying longer provides guys extra alternatives. PCA winds up in the highest 20 on this leaderboard principally two seasons into what needs to be an elite profession if he stays wholesome:
This is a reasonably stellar listing of defensive specialists. You’d be exhausting pressed to seek out guys who performed the outfield higher than Kevin Kiermaier, Lorenzo Cain and Jason Heyward. The cause these gamers are larger on this listing than PCA is a pure operate of the variety of years in the league. None of them got here shut to creating the variety of 5 star catches PCA has accomplished up to now in his profession. That peace might decelerate as time goes on, in any case, Father Time is undefeated and age comes for all of us. But for proper now, in this second, we’re seeing Pete Crow-Armstrong play centerfield at a degree we have by no means seen in the Statcast Era. I plan on having fun with each second of it.
