When will Crow-Armstrong be called up? Too early to say, according to Cubs GM Hoyer
The Cubs are getting to the point where a constant storyline will be, "When are they going to call up Pete Crow-Armstrong?'
The team's top prospect made his Triple A debut on Aug. 1 and went 0-for-6 with 4 strikeouts in his first two games. But he's been rolling since then, going 2-for-4 Wednesday to run his hit streak to 10 and his batting average to .306. Crow-Armstrong hit a walk-off home run Tuesday to send Iowa past Louisville, then made two nice leaping catches at the wall Wednesday.
"We'll see. He's been playing great," Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. "I think it's way too early to talk about that. He hasn't been in Triple A too long, but he's playing great. He's been fun to watch and he certainly has a skill set that can benefit us in a lot of ways. Right now we're focused on his development."
The Iowa Cubs have a good chance of making the playoffs, so he'll probably stick around for that. The Cubs could conceivably bring him up late in the year, but they'd also have to add him to the 40-man roster permanently. Center fielders Cody Bellinger and Mike Tauchman have arguably been the Cubs best players for the past six weeks, so there's not a huge need unless there's an injury.
MLB Pipeline has Crow-Armstrong rated the No. 12 prospect in the minors. He was No. 10, but the rankings were updated to include the top two picks in this year's draft - pitcher Paul Skenes and OF Dylan Crews.
Bellinger in for long haul?
The Cubs aren't likely to sign Cody Bellinger to an extension at this point in the calendar. But after the year he's had, his impending free-agency is an important topic.
He signed a one-year deal with the Cubs to try to prove he can return to his 2019 MVP form and the plan worked. Now the question is, will other teams be leery of Bellinger's staying power, or will those who miss out on Shohei Ohtani view Bellinger as the next-best free-agent option?
"He knows how we feel about him," Jed Hoyer said. "We'd love to keep him here. He's been a great fit for us and he's a great fit in the clubhouse for us. We'll see."
It seemed like an easy decision at the time, but the Cubs could have gotten a nice return for Bellinger had they traded him before the deadline.
"If you said (at the start of the season) we'd be winning and he would do (what he's done), I'd sign up for that all day," Hoyer said. "The reason we do this is to win. The reason you sign him is to come in and play like this. It was a simple decision and glad he's still here."
Minor note:
MLB Pipeline released its midseason rank of farm systems recently, putting the Cubs at No. 4. That's great news for the organization, but the bad news is the NL Central may be loaded for a few years. Pittsburgh was ranked second, Milwaukee No. 3 and Cincinnati No. 5. The Cardinals are No. 22, but have two top-100 prospects.
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