Pete Crow-Armstrong showcases elite defensive skills for the Cubs, contributing significantly despite the team's recent struggles. His remarkable catches highlight his exceptional ability in the outfield.
Well, the Cubs weren’t going to win every game despite their longest winning streak since 2016. They probably aren’t going to lose every game either, although they’ve looked overmatched in their last three contests against the Dodgers and Padres as they started a three-game losing streak. As always with baseball, the real Cubs team is somewhere in between.
The Cubs bullpen has a shocking number of injuries held together by hopes and prayers, but thankfully for a pitching staff built on pitching to contact, the Cubs defense has (mostly) held while they try to weather the storm. I say mostly because Ian Happ getting a day at DH yesterday made left field a lot more adventurous than any of us would like, but that’s a post for another day. Today, I’d like to look on the brighter side of things, specifically, the elite defense Pete Crow-Armstrong contributes to the Cubs, like this incredible catch in Los Angeles [VIDEO].
I’m not sure if that took away a home run from Teoscar Hernández, but it certainly robbed Teo of extra bases. What strikes me about that play is just how calm and easy it all looks as PCA casually tracks the ball, heads to the wall, times his leap and snags it. Speaking of robbing extra bases, check out how easily he steals this double from Santiago Espinal in Saturday’s game [VIDEO].
Pete Crow-Armstrong isn’t merely a great defensive centerfielder. He’s not only one of the best defenders in MLB by Outs Above Average. Pete Crow-Armstrong is a category difference in terms of outfield defense in the Statcast Era. He makes plays other players have no shot at, he makes them routinely. Check out the 2026 catch probability leaderboard sorted by OAA:
Pete Crow-Armstrong is recognized for his exceptional defensive skills, ranking among the best in MLB by Outs Above Average and routinely making plays that others cannot.
Despite a three-game losing streak, the Cubs' defense has mostly held up, aided by Pete Crow-Armstrong's elite contributions amidst a struggling bullpen.
Recently, he made an incredible catch against Teoscar Hernández that prevented extra bases and also stole a double from Santiago Espinal.
He is considered a category difference in outfield defense, consistently performing at a level that sets him apart from other players in the Statcast Era.
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PCA has three more outs above average than both of the next two players, Chandler Simpson and Cam Smith. But it goes beyond that. He’s caught 71.4 percent of the five-star opportunities he’s had this season. If you sort that chart by percentage the only people ahead of him are Steven Kwan and Evan Carter who have each had one five-star opportunity that they’ve caught. If you scan that chart for guys who’ve had at least five opportunities, the next guy up by percentage of catches made is Fernando Tatis, Jr., who has had six opportunities and caught two of them. Good for a perfectly acceptable and elite 33% of five-star catch opportunities made. PCA isn’t just making impossible catches, he’s doing it with an ease that makes me wonder how many of those opportunities of his just don’t even show up on the radar of other players.
He’s not merely great by the standards of 2026, either. I ran that same table for every year of Statcast data, which basically provides data back to 2016 and limited it to guys with at least 100 opportunities to filter out the random one offs. I sorted this one by percent of five star catches first, because it more effectively demonstrates how elite the defensive stratosphere PCA is flying in here:
The first thing that jumps out is there is generally a trade off for these players between percentage of catches made and OAA. That makes sense, as you have more opportunities, you miss more, so the percentages go down as the OAA goes up. However, the second thing that jumps out here is that no one, during any time in the Statcast Era, has made more than 50 percent of their five-star catches, except Pete Crow-Armstrong.
I also ran that table by OAA so you could compare it to the 2026 leaderboard. OAA is a counting stat, so playing longer gives guys more opportunities. PCA winds up in the top 20 on this leaderboard basically two seasons into what should be an elite career if he stays healthy:
This is a pretty stellar list of defensive specialists. You’d be hard pressed to find guys who played the outfield better than Kevin Kiermaier, Lorenzo Cain and Jason Heyward. The reason those players are higher on this list than PCA is a pure function of the number of years in the league. None of them came close to making the number of five star catches PCA has made thus far in his career. That pace could slow down as time goes on, after all, Father Time is undefeated and age comes for all of us. But for right now, in this moment, we’re seeing Pete Crow-Armstrong play centerfield at a level we’ve never seen in the Statcast Era. I plan on enjoying every second of it.