Pete Crow-Armstrong wowing Cubs brass, who see walk as good as extra-base hit for speedy center fielder

You might have heard that a walk can be as good as a hit.

But a walk being as good as a double?

Just another incredible baseball feat courtesy of Pete Crow-Armstrong.

“The ability to impact on the bases, you can’t pitch around him because it’s an extra-base hit. And if you pitch to him, it might be an extra-base hit,” team president Jed Hoyer said last week. “That’s the real beauty, he can get into scoring position so easily, and you can’t walk guys like that.”

For Crow-Armstrong, who’s wowing with his improved plate discipline, a walk can be as good as a double, as he can use his speed to easily swipe second base.

Crow-Armstrong — who started the day fifth in baseball with 25 stolen bases — flashed his speed Tuesday, tripling in his first at-bat. That’s the kind of thing he did with regularity during his breakout 2025 campaign, establishing himself as a human highlight reel.

But in the same inning — the Cubs sent a dozen men to the plate in a six-run first — he showed what’s made him so newly dangerous this season, drawing a bases-loaded walk that forced in a run.

That’s the evolved PCA that shows the Cubs were onto something when they bet big with a $115 million contract extension.

“The way he’s played for the last six weeks or so is what you hoped he would get to eventually. He got there really quickly,” Hoyer said. “Obviously, he’s going to have to maintain it and stay there. But some of the great at-bats he’s had?

“He was facing [lefty reliever Sam] Moll with Cincinnati, and I found myself thinking, ‘Oh, he’s going to walk him.’ And I was like, ‘Wow, that is a 180.’ I never would have thought that last year, that he was going to face that kind of guy … and he’s not going to chase a breaking ball away, he’s going to have a disciplined approach. He’s kind of impossible [to pitch to] when you get to that place.

“This current approach is exactly what we always hoped he could get to. It just came a lot faster than we thought.”

He’s doing incredible things with his glove, too.

The Cubs don’t just think his center-field defense is better than everyone else’s, they think it’s better than that of players who haven’t even played yet.

“Hopefully it’s a long time before someone else plays center field that you get to see regularly here [at Wrigley Field],” manager Craig Counsell said Tuesday. “But it’s not going to be as good.”

Shaw still waiting to swing

The Cubs are still waiting for utility man Matt Shaw to be entirely free of the symptoms caused by the sprained hand that’s had him sidelined since late last month.

Counsell touted improvement for Shaw on Tuesday, but despite new imaging showing “significant healing,” Shaw is still waiting to start swinging a bat.

“We’ve just got to get over that last step. It’s been a stubborn sprain, so to speak. But he’s improving,” Counsell said. “When you swing a baseball bat for a living, it involves the wrist heavily, and we’re just not quite past it.”

Shaw will head to Arizona to continue working when the Cubs next hit the road.

Climbing the list

Left fielder Ian Happ’s home run Monday was the 191st of his career and sent him into sole possession of 11th place on the Cubs’ all-time home-run list, passing Hall of Fame outfielder Hack Wilson.

He’s seven away from tying MVP outfielder Hank Sauer, who’s currently 10th with 198 home runs as a Cub.