Greg Amsinger’s first-half MVP list drew plenty of heat from Cubs fans when Pete Crow-Armstrong was left off entirely, and the MLB Network analyst only poured gasoline on it Thursday by standing behind the decision.
Amsinger’s top nine looked like this: Shohei Ohtani at No. 1, followed by Yordan Alvarez, Junior Caminero, James Wood, Kyle Schwarber, Otto Lopez, Jordan Walker, Miguel Vargas and Dillon Dingler.
When he explained the omission, Amsinger said he was weighing two things: “Player’s team winning” and “Take into account the entire first half, not just recent success.”
That logic came with a graphic comparing Crow-Armstrong’s first 58 games to his last 35, a setup meant to show the Cubs center fielder as a player whose surge had carried the bulk of his value. But the numbers in the source story tell a different version of the season.
Crow-Armstrong’s rough start lasted just 16 games, not half the year. Over that opening stretch, he hit .203/.239/.266 with one homer, four stolen bases, a 35 wRC+ and 0.0 fWAR. Since then, in his last 77 games entering Friday night’s series opener against the Cincinnati Reds - 83% of the season - he’s been on a ridiculous tear: .317/.417/.606 with 20 homers, 19 steals, a 179 wRC+ and 5.9 fWAR.
The source also notes that by May 29, the offensive line was already improving. Crow-Armstrong had a .747 OPS from April 14 to May 29, which was still below average overall, but not nearly the disaster Amsinger described. At that point, he was already the second-most valuable player on the Cubs at 1.5 fWAR.
That’s why the claim that Crow-Armstrong was one of the worst players on the team through 58 games doesn’t hold up in the source’s accounting.
The bigger point is that Amsinger’s “only been good for 35 games” argument misses the broader picture. Even with the ugly first 16 games included, Crow-Armstrong’s overall production places him fifth among MLB hitters, and he stands alone as the league’s only 20/20 player. Defensively, he leads MLB in fielding run value and ranks second to Bobby Witt Jr. in outs above average.
And on the team-winning front, the Cubs are 52-41, which is the fifth-best record in MLB. Of the players on Amsinger’s list, only Shohei Ohtani and Junior Caminero are on teams with better records.
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