Pete Crow-Armstrong leaned on a bit of veteran wisdom as he tried to shake a late-season slump. Borrowing advice from Justin Turner, Crow-Armstrong told the Sun-Times that the key isn’t a rigid drill plan or a step-by-step routine, but rather a simple check: timing first, then the bat path.
In August, Crow-Armstrong’s offense cooled off after a breakout first four months. Heading into the series opener with the Angels on Friday, he was batting just .154 with a .422 OPS over the previous three weeks. Yet the night’s swing changed the mood, as his 396-foot solo homer with one out in the ninth inning propelled the Cubs to a 3-2 win.
“I’m seeing the ball really well right now and just waiting to match it back up with the physical,” Crow-Armstrong said.
Manager Craig Counsell has often said great seasons include surprises, and Crow-Armstrong was the surprise of the Cubs’ hot start. The outfielder showed a level of offensive growth last year that raised expectations, but his early-season power numbers surpassed what many anticipated. By early May he’d matched his career home-run total, and by mid-June he had already doubled it, becoming the first player this year to reach 20-20 in homers and stolen bases. He started in the All-Star game as a runaway fan-voted starter, and he was firmly in the NL MVP conversation.
“The stretch that he was on was almost unconscious at times,” hitting coach Dustin Kelly said. “The way that he hits the ball so hard and is in the air so much, when you’re on that, good results come even when you’re off the barrel.”
Crow-Armstrong’s timing was once dialed in, enabling him to hurt pitches both above and below the strike zone. His swing path relied on natural loft, keeping his bat in the strike zone longer.
During his current dip, a season-high 43.2% ground-ball rate stands out as a likely contributor, though timing and swing path can influence such a spike. “If you’re late, you compensate; if you’re early, you compensate,” Crow-Armstrong explained. “So the balls in the ground come in any shape or form.”
Sometimes addressing timing alone fixes the issue, but if the struggles persist, the root cause may be the bat path. “Sometimes you just go through some spells where you don’t get it on the barrel like you want to,” Kelly noted.
Pitchers have adjusted as well. Crow-Armstrong’s opponents are more protective early in counts, shifting away and then coming in late, with an emphasis on elevating the ball late in at-bats. Teams have even started using left-handed relievers specifically to face him, depriving Crow-Armstrong of the chance to study a fellow lefty before stepping in to bat.
“It’s never easy to digest when you’re playing like this,” Crow-Armstrong acknowledged.
A positive takeaway is that Crow-Armstrong continues to show the rare combination of power and speed, and the Cubs clearly believe in the upside. If he can re-synchronize timing with a slight adjustment to the bat path, the big numbers could return, helping a Cubs lineup that already benefited from his early-season explosion.
Summary: Crow-Armstrong’s late-season slump has been tempered by a dramatic ninth-inning homer that lifted the Cubs over the Angels. With timing largely intact but a bat path deemed a touch flat, he and the Cubs are watching and adjusting as pitchers tailor their approach. His historic 20-20 pace and All-Star emergence underscored his potential, and the team remains hopeful he’ll recapture that form as he continues to navigate the adjustments from opponents.
Overall outlook: Crow-Armstrong remains a key, dynamic player for Chicago, and his resilience offers a hopeful note for the Cubs as they push toward August and beyond.