Pete Crow-Armstrong is having a sensational season and is on his way to winning the National League MVP for the first time in his career.
He has a league-leading 45 home runs and has added 41 stolen bases as well. He leads the National League in OPS and leads all of baseball in run and bWAR. The league has seen some remarkable power-speed seasons as of late with Ronald Acuña Jr. and Shohei Ohtani, but the Cubs' president of baseball operations, Jed Hoyer, thinks Crow-Armstrong's MVP season is one of the most special ever.
"It's the best position-player season I've ever seen," Hoyer said, per ESPN's Jesse Rogers. "He's going to win the MVP. He's going to win the Hank Aaron Award. He's going to win the Platinum Glove."
Ohtani's 50-homer, 50-steal season may clear Crow-Armstrong's in terms of impressiveness, but Ohtani did not play the field. It can be argued that Crow-Armstrong has had the most complete season ever, but for Hoyer to say it's the best season he's seen from a position player ever is extremely high praise.
Perhaps what is separating Crow-Armstrong from other great position player MVP seasons is his defense. As far as offensive feats go, Ohtani's 50/50 season, Aaron Judge's 62-homer season, and Ronald Acuña Jr.'s 40/70 season all seem more impressive in recent memory. However, none of them played defense like Crow-Armstrong has this season.
Crow-Armstrong is in the 100th percentile for Outs Above Average, posting a plus-26. He has been just as good in the field as he has been at the plate. Really, the only thing that could have stopped him from winning MVP after the year he has had is if Shohei Ohtani had kept pitching.