How USA Baseball shaped Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong long before his first WBC

MESA, Ariz. – This spring will be Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong’s first World Baseball Classic, but it won’t be the first time he dons Team USA’s stars and stripes – not by a long shot. Crow-Armstrong has been in USA Baseball’s system since 12U.

“I can look back 12 years ago, and I played with Paul Skenes before he was a pitcher,” Crow-Armstrong said in a recent conversation with the Sun-Times. “I played with Masyn Winn before he was a Gold Glove shortstop. Carson Tucker is still one of my best friends to this day, and we met on the USA team.”

For Crow-Armstrong, this season will be about building off a breakout 2025 that had extreme highs and an extended low. But before that, he’ll get his first taste of the professional national team, on a roster stacked with MLB talent, including three Cubs: Crow-Armstrong, third baseman Alex Bregman and left-handed pitcher Matthew Boyd.

This WBC, the United States is set to feature its best pitching staff ever, with Skenes and Tarik Skubal, reigning Cy Youngs, headlining a stacked rotation, and closer Mason Miller leading the bullpen. The position-player group features Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh, who finished first and second in the AL MVP race.

Crow-Armstrong has vivid memories of his dad praising center fielder Byron Buxton, now a Team USA Teammate. “He is Mike Trout if he can stay healthy,” Matthew John Armstrong would say.

“So the thought of me platooning with Byron Buxton is sort of hard to fathom,” Crow-Armstrong said, “but super freaking cool.”

Growing up, USA Baseball brought Crow-Armstrong all over the world. He now fondly reminisces about sneaking out to explore Busan, South Korea. He was taken in by Cartagena, Columbia’s famous fortress. He’s talked with Cubs teammate Miguel Amaya about playing in Chitre, Panama, Amaya’s hometown.

“What was so significant about Team USA experiences for me was, it’s a much shorter window to really come together and all buy into the same thing,” Crow-Armstrong said. “And that never changed throughout 12[U] to 15 to 18.”

Crow-Armstrong returns, this time with the professional national team, after a rollercoaster of a 2025 season that still saw him record 31 home runs and 35 stolen bases.

Crow-Armstrong was stalwart on defense all year, earning his first career Gold Glove. On offense, he put up MVP numbers in the first half, earning a no-brainer start in the All-Star game. But he slumped down the stretch.

“The steps we’ve taken with the swing over the last three plus years has been incredible, and I’m very proud of that,” Crow-Armstrong said in the middle of a scrum of reporters and cameras last week. “What I’m not so proud of yet is the .280 on-base percentage and the 55% swing rate, or whatever it was. That’s no fun. I had a lot of a lot more fun when I was playing well.”

He sold himself a little short with those figures. Last year, he posted a .287 OBP and a 53.5 out of zone swing %, according to Statcast, leaving plenty of room for improvement with his pitch selection. He also zeroed in this offseason on repeating his setup, stepping into the batter’s box with the exact same routine every pitch.

Crow-Armstrong will get continued instruction on those focuses in Cubs camp. And then with the national team, he’ll have the chance to pick the brains of some of the best hitters in the world. Team USA is also the favorite in the tournament, promising high-intensity playing environments, especially in the later rounds. That kind of experience is hard to replicate outside of playoffs.

Said Crow-Armstrong: “What I’ve been told is, there’s nothing like the sights and sounds of the WBC.”