YES! THERE IT IS! The Chicago Cubs are adding a major reinforcement from within this week, promoting top prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong for the stretch run.
The news broke via ESPN’s Jeff Passan, who says that PCA will be available starting tomorrow night:
As I speculated this morning, the Cubs may want PCA to help cover the spacious outfields at Coors and Chase this week, while also affording themselves more opportunities to get rest for guys like Mike Tauchman and Cody Bellinger. I would tentatively anticipate starts for PCA this week, rather than the extreme-depth-no-way-he-sees-the-field treatment that Alexander Canario has received. The ability to add an 80-grade center fielder (with the bump in defense at first when Bellinger is there, too) has to be pretty attractive for David Ross, even if you grant the whole “dance with the ones who brought you” thing. I just can’t see PCA coming up and not being used, at least some of the time.
It’s TBD exactly what that’ll look like, and I’m sure there will still be some match-up elements to it. The plan probably also depends a bit on whose spot Pete Crow-Armstrong is taking. Is Jeimer Candelario’s back going to put him on the IL? Is PCA just swapping with Canario? We’ll see.
Crow-Armstrong, 21, is roundly considered a top-20 prospect in baseball, who has hit .283/.365/.511/126 wRC+ combined between Double-A and Triple-A. He is an elite defender in the outfield and has significant speed. Even if he weren’t starting, he’s just a great player to have available for the stretch run. I wouldn’t necessarily expect impact offense right away, but he is certainly the type of guy who can provide a spark with his energy.
He definitely went off yesterday for the Iowa Cubs, in what could be his final game there this season:
Because he’s not already on the 40-man roster, the Cubs will need to make a correlative move on that front to open up a spot. And if you are wondering, no, PCA will not lose rookie eligibility through this call-up, so he will still entitle the Cubs to draft pick compensation if he’s on the Opening Day roster next year and wins Rookie of the Year, or finishes in the top three of MVP voting before he reaches arbitration.
More soon.