MESA, Ariz. – New Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman knows his swing is at its best when he stays stingy with his pitch selection and makes contact out in front. Those keys unlocked what he called the best month-and-a-half offensive stretch of his life last season – before a strained quad in late May broke his rhythm.
They’re also focuses for his new Cubs and Team USA teammate, center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong. The first point especially, disciplined swing decisions, has dominated most of their hitting conversations so far.
“I think the sky’s the limit for him,” Bregman said of Crow-Armstrong. “I feel like he can do anything on a baseball field: running the bases, defensively, offensively. And I feel like the more that he refines his game, he’s just going to continue to get better and better.”
Bregman joined the Cubs this offseaosn with an already glowing reputation for his leadership skills. The examples keep stacking up.
Bregman was in the coaches room earlier this week, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said, asking about what his teammates were working on and how he could reinforce those cues. In the offseason, young infielder Matt Shaw joined Bregman at his facility in Arizona to hit.
“It’s rare to have a player that invested in helping make young guys better,” Hoyer said. “And you’ll see it in various ways, but it’s a wonderful quality that he has, and it’s something that people with the Astros talk about, and people the Red Sox talk about, and it’s something he’s earned.”
Bregman is expected to impact this team from top to bottom. But this spring, because of the World Baseball Classic schedule, there’s one young position player who he’ll be around more than any other.
“I’m really excited to spend some serious time with him,” Pete-Crow-Armstrong said of Bregman. “The guy is super enthusiastic about the intricacies of the game. And I’ve loved hearing him share his experiences in the past. And I think he’s going to make me, and the whole squad, just a whole lot better.”
Bregman and Crow-Armstrong were early arrivals in camp. And though Bregman left the complex Thursday with an illness, he was back Friday.
The pair has about two more weeks left with their major-league team before joining Team USA ahead of WBC play. It will be Crow-Armstrong’s first WBC, and Bregman’s second.
In 2017, Bregman was the youngest player on the United States’ squad, turning 23 about a week after beating Puerto Rico in the final. The next time around, in 2023, Bregman didn’t get to participate after breaking a finger in the World Series several months prior.
“I didn’t get to play that much [in 2017], but I got to experience it,” Bregman said, “and I’ve been looking forward to this since then.”
Bregman carried lessons from that early experience that he could pass onto 23-year-old Crow-Armstrong. But they’ll also simply have more time for general baseball conversations. Pitch selection is sure to continue to be a common topic between the two.
Bregman’s elite chase rate put him in the 95th percentile in that category last season. Whereas, Crow-Armstrong is well aware that he’s a free swinger, and improving his strike zone control is a clear avenue to take his offensive game to a new level.
“It’s not the first time Pete’s talked about pitch selection,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said of Crow-Armstrong’s conversations with Bregman. “But – kind of like pitch grips – how it clicks for you, and how you see it, and how it resonates, and how you process it, it’s different for everybody.”
The more conversations Crow-Armstrong has, with coaches or teammates who excels in that area, the more chances he creates to have that aha moment.
“The way Alex approaches it, he’s been successful, and it’s been successful for other players as well,” Counsell said. “So of course, we’re all we’re all going to listen to that.”
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