(670 The Score) As 21-year-old outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong continues to thrive in the minor leagues, he’s in the mix to be called up in September, Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins said Tuesday.
“Certainly at this pace, he’s in the conversation,” Hawkins said on the Parkins & Spiegel Show.
Crow-Armstrong is hitting .275 with three homers and an .983 OPS in 10 games at Triple-A Iowa, a level he was recently promoted to after proving himself at Double-A Tennessee by hitting .289 with 14 homers, 60 RBIs, 68 runs, 27 stolen bases and an .898 OPS in 73 games.
Crow-Armstrong is an elite defender with elite speed, meaning he could find a role with the Cubs as a defensive replacement and pinch-runner even if the team doesn’t think he’s ready for regular high-leverage at-bats in a playoff push.
“Pete obviously is a great defender, a good baserunner, is swinging the bat really, really well,” Hawkins said. “But there’s a lot of guys down there at Triple-A that can help this club out too. So we’ll make that decision come September.”
Hawkins has been impressed by Crow-Armstrong’s progress recently.
“Not surprised by any means,” Hawkins said. “I’m definitely encouraged by the adjustments that he’s been able to make. You see his plate discipline continue to get better and better. He’s really driving pitches that he can hit and being aggressive in the zone and unaggressive out of the zone. The defense has remained, and the baserunning has a chance to be special. Just learning when to make aggressive decisions and not always being on go is something that he’ll have to have to kind of tamper down over the course of the rest of his career. But the long and short of it is we’re really encouraged by the year he’s had thus far, and definitely the sky is the limit.”
Entering play Tuesday, the Cubs were second in the NL Central, trailing the Brewers by 3.5 games. Chicago is one game back of the third and final wild-card spot in the NL.
MLB rosters expand from 26 players to 28 players in September.
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