The Chicago Cubs are hoping a short break benefits center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong at the plate.
Crow-Armstrong was not in the lineup Wednesday for a second consecutive game, part of manager Craig Counsell’s plan to give him a three-day reset, paired with the Cubs’ day off Thursday. Crow-Armstrong didn’t do any of his typical pregame hitting Tuesday in an effort to have him take a step back amid his prolonged slump. He was expected to go through his normal routine Wednesday.
“Just to get him a physical and mental break,” Counsell explained. “And then go into the last essentially 3½ weeks of the season hopefully a little bit refreshed.”
The timing comes as the Cubs make a push to close the gap between their second-place standing in the National League Central and the first-place Milwaukee Brewers, who held a five-game lead entering Wednesday. The Cubs are conversely trying to build on their NL wild-card lead, which stood at 4½ games over the San Diego Padres. Counsell said it’s not a black-and-white decision when weighing all of those factors in tandem with giving a struggling key player a few days off.
“You do what’s best for the player first, always do what’s best for the player and then you have other considerations,” Counsell said. “But you learn lessons doing this that it’s one game and the benefit outweighs it sometimes, as much as you want your best players out there. So, there’s been examples that I’ve learned from in the past that you do what’s right for the player and you’re not making a mistake.”
Crow-Armstrong has been in an offensive funk since the beginning of August. Over the last four weeks, the 23-year-old has recorded a .163 average, .217 on-base percentage and .231 slugging percentage with four doubles, one home run and five RBIs. The high strikeout rate is naturally a part of his game, but the lack of slug and missing on pitches he should be doing damage on has hindered Crow-Armstrong’s production recently. In the first three-plus months of the season, he posted a .272/.309/.559 slash line with 30 doubles, four triples, 27 home runs and 78 RBIs in a 106-game span.
The Cubs saw a short break help Kyle Tucker when he sat for three games two weeks ago. After an 0-fer in his first game back, Tucker is hitting .400 since then with four doubles, four home runs, 11 RBIs and a .489 OBP in his last 11 games.
“I think Pete wanted to play, but I thought it was the best idea,” Counsell said. “I looked at this really, frankly, early in the road trip and thinking where could we get Pete a break? And as the road trip kind of went on, it became obvious to me that we should use this opportunity to get him a little break.”
As expected, Tucker was not in Wednesday’s lineup, either, after departing Tuesday midgame with left calf tightness. Counsell stated postgame Tucker wouldn’t play in the finale, and coupled with Thursday’s off day, give him extended rest before reassessing the right fielder’s availability Friday. Counsell didn’t have any further updates Wednesday.
“We’re just going to give him the day,” Counsell said of Tucker. “We’ve got 48 hours, the way I see it, from today through tomorrow, so he’ll just get treatment and we’ll check on him and see how he’s doing Friday morning.”
The Cubs have been able to stay healthy with their everyday position players, which has played a big role in the team’s success. With 23 games left in the regular season entering Wednesday, only two Cubs hitters have spent time on the injured list: left fielder Ian Happ, who missed 10 games in May because of his oblique, and catcher Miguel Amaya, who missed 3½ months with an oblique strain and is currently on the IL with a left ankle sprain.
Counsell pointed to Happ and shortstop Dansby Swanson as great examples of being physically available. In the previous three years, Happ averaged 154 games per season while Swanson averaged 148 the last two following a three-year stretch in Atlanta in which he played in every game between 2020-22.
“It’s really impressive at a pretty physically demanding position and so one of Dansby’s great traits, and sometimes we don’t get excited enough about this, is his availability every single day and what that does for your roster and your defense and just your everyday, it’s really important,” Counsell said. “And I think we’ve got a bunch of guys that have played a lot of games this year, and it’s made us a better team.”