Pete Crow-Armstrong’s leadoff home-run barrage showing just how dangerous he is at top of Cubs’ batting order
SEATTLE – Hot take incoming.
The Cubs have something very valuable in Pete Crow-Armstrong at the top of their lineup.
No duh, right?
Crow-Armstrong has been perhaps the best player in baseball this season, a true MVP candidate, even in a world where Shohei Ohtani exists.
But though he’s been doing remarkable things all season, his latest trick stood out.
His leadoff home run in Friday’s loss to the Mariners was his third such dinger in a four-game stretch, after he led off the bottom of the first inning with home runs in back-to-back games against the White Sox last week.
Friday’s blast came as the conclusion of a nine-pitch at-bat, in contrast to the first-pitch homers he belted against the Sox.
“The first at-bat of a road trip, having an eight-, nine-, 10-pitch at-bat like he did, to hit a homer and get us going,” second baseman Nico Hoerner said Saturday, “it’s a huge deal and sets the tone for everyone.”
Crow-Armstrong has been setting the tone a lot. He’s up to seven leadoff homers on the season, five shy of the single-season franchise record of 12, set by Alfonso Soriano in 2007.
“We’ve got probably the most dynamic player in baseball leading off,” third baseman Alex Bregman said Friday. “He can hit the ball out of the ballpark, he can steal bags, he can battle up and slap a good at-bat on you.”
Crow-Armstrong is under MVP consideration because of his all-around excellence this season, and leadoff walks have impressed his teammates just as much as his leadoff homers have, a dramatic evolution in his offensive game. He’s also flashed elite base-running ability.
He can do it all. And he can do it all right away, causing an instant problem for opponents as the top-of-the-order hitter.
“Pete has some of the traditional leadoff qualities in the speed and the impact on the bases, but also he’s just the hitter that we want up most right now,” Hoerner said. “He kind of fits both boxes.
“He’s been incredible.”
Happ homers, still struggling
Left fielder Ian Happ hit a clutch home run Friday, bringing the Cubs within a run with his eighth-inning blast.
But a day later, he was out of the team’s starting lineup with a left-handed starter on the mound.
While Happ showed what sort of impact he’s capable of making, that impact has been muted against lefties. He came into Saturday hitting just .158 against southpaws, and manager Craig Counsell continued his recent strategy of sitting Happ against a lefty starter with eyes on bringing him to face righties later in the game.
Though Happ still had an .812 OPS against righties this season, his overall numbers have been dragged down by the results against lefties, and coming into Saturday, he was batting just .199 in his previous 63 games.
“He’s a passionate, competitive person,” Hoerner said of Happ. “Obviously, he wants to contribute at a really high level. But I’ve also seen him go through challenging stretches and come out the other side of them with versions of himself that can carry an offense with weeks on end.
“There’s no change in confidence with him.”
Bregman bombs
Think the Mariners are sick of Bregman?
Their former division rival from his many years with the Astros, Bregman came into this weekend’s series with 13 career homers against the M’s.
But that number is rising quickly, and after another day of home-run exploits Saturday in Washington, there are only three teams he’s homered against more often in his career: the Athletics, Rangers and Angels.