Chicago Cubs: PCA’s poise has been a bright spot during tough times

Over his last five games, “PCA” has posted an average exit velocity of 99.5 mph, but is officially 3-for-17 (.176). On the season, the 24-year-old has delivered some underwhelming numbers, registering just six home runs with a .224 batting average and an OPS of .677.

But end-result numbers are clearly not telling Crow-Armstrong’s full story, at least not for the last month or so.

Per Brett Taylor of Bleacher Nation:

“You can go all the way back over a month and find that PCA is hitting a solid-but-unspectacular .214/.339/.408/117 wRC+ since April 26. But he’s posted a whopping .389 xwOBA in that time (against a .337 actual wOBA), with a 12.9% BB rate(!), a 21.8% K rate, a .194 ISO, a 50.6% hard hit rate, and an 11.7% barrel rate. If you didn’t know the slash line, you’d guess that a guy doing all that was having a MONSTER month.”

Jake Misener of Cubbies Crib added to the PCA “things aren’t as bad as they seem” assessment:

“Since May 6, he’s been a top-20 player in the league in terms of fWAR, even as a team-wide slump took center stage as the Cubs saw a multiple-game lead in the Central quickly evaporate. During that stretch, his .197 average left much to be desired, but he’s bandaged that up with an impressive .341 OBP, driven by a 13.4 percent walk rate.”

Poise and maturity

And through doing all the right things without getting the right results—and through a rough mental patch stemming from an altercation with a female White Sox fan in mid-May—he’s been remarkably poised. With the exception of a couple uncharacteristic defensive miscues, one wouldn’t know that he was under stress at all.

“One of the hard things is sticking with it when you’re not getting the hits.” Cubs manager Craig Counsell told reporters on Thursday. “Do you feel better when you hit a bloop double or when you line out? Right? So, I think that’s the baseball question…That’s what’s hard about it sometimes…And I think he’s improving…and he’s going to continue to do that…but sticking to things, that’s important.”

While hard-hit balls aren’t resulting in hits for him, he’s still running the bases like a fiend and doing his thing in center field, showcasing the multi-tool capabilities that made him a safe gamble for the six-year extension he got with the team earlier in the season.

If he continues to work the bat as he’s been doing—with a greater willingness to take walks and an increased ability to hit left-handed-pitching—the hits will come. But the lessons learned in patience and maturity through this rough patch will be invaluable.