Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong reflects on journey from Mets trade to becoming All-Star starter

Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News on Jul 12, 2025

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — This portion of the MLB calendar is filled with cautionary tales.

The Detroit Tigers traded a 20-year-old John Smoltz to the Atlanta Braves for veteran starter Doyle Alexander in August of 1987.

Three Augusts later, the Boston Red Sox sent a 22-year-old Jeff Bagwell to the Houston Astros for reliever Larry Anderson.

But perhaps no recent pre-deadline deal is more relevant than the Mets’ trade for Javier Baez in 2021.

To acquire Baez and swingman Trevor Williams from the Chicago Cubs, the Mets parted with Pete Crow-Armstrong, then a 19-year-old outfield prospect.

The Mets got two months out of Baez — who played well in 47 games — and missed the playoffs before he left for the Tigers in free agency that winter.

Crow-Armstrong, meanwhile, has blossomed into one of baseball’s brightest stars, living up to his five-tool potential during a breakout season this year.

“I think that’s what you find a lot of people needing, just an opportunity,” Crow-Armstrong, 23, said Friday before the Cubs’ series opener against the Yankees in the Bronx.

“It’s not that I didn’t have one with the Mets. I think I was in a really good situation there, but I had a bit of a different road than I had envisioned, getting hurt and having such a small sample size. What was really big with the people [in Chicago] was that I personally felt like it was a huge display of belief in me.”

The Mets used a first-round pick on Crow-Armstrong in 2020 and signed him to a $3.4 million bonus, but there was no minor league season that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He played in only six games with Single-A St. Lucie in 2021 before undergoing season-ending surgery on his right, non-throwing shoulder.

Those proved to be the only games Crow-Armstrong would play with the Mets organization, as he was traded to Chicago less than three months after the operation.

“I was looking for anything good to happen when I was rehabbing,” recalled Crow-Armstrong, who said he was not disappointed by the trade at the time. “It was still relatively early on in the rehab process that I got traded. That was nice. It was a change of scenery that ended up being really important.”

Crow-Armstrong made his MLB debut in September of 2023, and while he made 410 plate appearances and stole 27 bases with the Cubs last year, he batted just .237 with 10 home runs and a .670 OPS.

This year has been much different.

Crow-Armstrong entered Saturday hitting .269 with 25 home runs, an .862 OPS and 27 steals. Only three players in MLB history have reached 25 homers and 25 steals in a season more quickly.

The center fielder is set to start for the National League in the All-Star Game on Tuesday night at Atlanta’s Truist Park.

“When I was experiencing what felt like a long, long, tough stretch last year, the biggest learning curve was figuring out how to show up and be a good teammate and make it about the team, especially when you’re not getting regular at-bats,” Crow-Armstrong said.

“You’re trained to be prepared for that time, but you don’t really know how to handle it until you get there. I’m definitely glad I went through it. It gave me a lot of information about how I handle failure and who I am when stuff gets tough.”

The careers of Crow-Armstrong and Baez remain intertwined, not least of which because Baez is set to start the All-Star Game for the American League, also in center field, a position he switched to this season.

“I think that’s really cool,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I don’t think ‘full circle’ is really the term for it, but it’s cool I’ll be playing across from him, playing the same position as him, when I never really thought that was going to be a thing.”

But Crow-Armstrong’s story has been full of surprises.

“It’s always nice feeling like you’re giving people their money’s worth,” Crow-Armstrong said of his breakout season. “But I think my biggest battle was always proving to myself.”