Pete Crow-Armstrong turned in one of the greatest offensive months in baseball history in June, and the numbers put him in a class shared by only two other players.
The Cubs center fielder hit .381 with a .781 slugging percentage, 82 total bases, 17 walks, 11 home runs, and eight stolen bases over the month. OptaSTATS broke down the month in detail, laying out exactly which thresholds he cleared and which two Hall of Famers share the distinction with him.
The only other players to clear every one of those marks in a single month are Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, both New York Yankees legends. Ruth did it three times, in June 1920, July 1920 and May 1930. Gehrig matched the feat once, in June 1930. Both went on to have some of the best individual seasons in baseball history in the years they posted qualifying months.
Crow-Armstrong was a first-round pick, 19th overall, by the New York Mets in the 2020 MLB Draft. New York traded him to the Cubs in 2021 for infielder Javier Baez at the trade deadline.
The 24-year-old made his big-league debut in 2023 and earned his first All-Star selection last year.
June was not an isolated hot streak. Crow-Armstrong hit for the cycle on June 15, becoming just the 11th player in MLB history to complete a reverse natural cycle. He is batting .284 with 18 home runs, 46 RBIs and an .888 OPS for the season.
Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images
The Cubs enter July at 48-38, second in the National League Central and 5.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers, while holding the second NL Wild Card spot. Crow-Armstrong's bat has carried Chicago through the stretch.
Four years after arriving in a trade for Baez, Crow-Armstrong is now being mentioned alongside Ruth and Gehrig for a single month's work, a measure of how far his game has come.
