(670 The Score) Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong is known for his fiery demeanor, but it’s also an area of his game that he wants to harness as it relates to his mental focus.
The 22-year-old Crow-Armstrong wants to be a little easier on himself in 2025, believing it can help him perform better. As he reflected on 2024, his first full season in the big leagues, Crow-Armstrong felt he improved in that department as the year went on.
“I’ve probably treated this like a job for too long,” Crow-Armstrong said on the Bernstein & Harris Show on Thursday. “And not in a bad way. I just think that I love taking this game seriously. Because it’s not a serious game, but you have to be serious about what you do in it and how you set yourself up to play nine innings every day. And I think it’s going to sound crazy, but once I realized I wasn’t supposed to go 3-for-4 every day was when I saw that more."
Crow-Armstrong hit .237 with 10 homers, 47 RBIs and a .670 OPS in 123 games last season. Crow-Armstrong hit .262 with a .736 OPS in the second half of the season, an improvement that he felt was coming.
“It was just a matter of time in my eyes,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I was doing the right work. I was preparing the right way. I became pretty monotonous in my routine. What (manager Craig Counsell) relayed to me that made me feel somewhat fulfilled was he was just glad I showed him that I could be ready to play every day. I showed him that through what happens underground, in the clubhouse, in the cages and so on. I love treating this game like a job because it’s the best job to have and I’m very lucky to be able to do so. But I think next year, I’m really excited to see where I do take things mentally because I have come a long way, and I’m excited to be a little kinder to myself in terms of the failure side of things. Everything hard about this game, I actually came to really enjoy toward the end of the year. I love how hard this is, and I love how gratifying this game can be.”