On a 2-1 count with a runner on and two outs in the fourth inning, Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong let loose on a hanging curveball from St. Louis Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas and sent it 396-feet – about 14 rows deep into the right-center bleachers.

It was his fifth career home run in nine plate appearances against Mikolas. And with it, he became the first Cubs player to reach 30 home runs, 30 doubles and 30 stolen bases in the same season.

That came on September 26th in the 160th game of the regular season.

One hundred eighty-five days later, the Cubs locked up Crow-Armstrong for the long haul, signing the center fielder to a long-term extension as spring training wrapped up in Mesa, Ariz. The deal was first reported by ESPN on Monday night.

The deal is for six years and is worth $115 million with a chance to reach $133 million. It does not include any club options and begins in 2027. Crow-Armstrong was due to become arbitration-eligible after the 2026 season.

“With any of our young players, you effectively have five club options on a guy with arbitration,” Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer told 104.3 The Score in January. “Through arbitration, you have real flexibility. So the organization has to give up that flexibility and has to guarantee a bunch of money, and the player has to decide that the security is worth something because your highest potential to make money is to not sign a deal and to become a free agent.

“And so those two things have to come together. The team never just says, ‘OK, we’ll give you everything you want. What was your 100th percentile outcome in free agency? We’ll do that.’ You have to work together to figure out where that balance is and it’s complicated.”

Wherever the number ends up, Hoyer and Crow-Armstrong felt it worthwhile.

After all, Crow-Armstrong, 23, was the prized acquisition at the 2021 trade deadline when Hoyer and the Cubs opted to dive into a full rebuild, dealing first baseman Anthony Rizzo to the New York Yankees, third baseman Kris Bryant to the San Francisco Giants and shortstop Javier Baez to the New York Mets.

Crow-Armstrong, the Mets’ No. 5 prospect at the time, was a one-for-two return for Baez and pitcher Trevor Williams.

He made his major league debut with the Cubs in September 2023 but received only 19 plate appearances in which he did not record a hit. Twenty-four games into the following season, Crow-Armstrong made his season debut and picked up his first career hit the next day.

Last season, Crow-Armstrong catapulted into the MVP race with 25 home runs before the All-Star break but cooled off in the second half of the year before he finished with 31 homers, 95 runs batted in and a .247/.287/.481 slash line – good enough for a 5.4 fWAR season (15th among position players in 2025). He also earned his first Gold Glove award and All-Star Game selection.

CHGO’s staff weighs in on the news:

Patrick Norton: This is certainly welcomed news for a few reasons.

1. The Cubs have their centerpiece. Not since Kris Bryant has the club boasted a true superstar. Bryant’s career was eventually derailed by injuries but not before winning National League Rookie of the Year (2015), NL Most Valuable Player (2016) and a World Series championship.

2. The lack of club options for Crow-Armstrong is a bit of a surprise and against the norm, but the willingness to spend and lock down a budding star for a long, long time gives the Cubs front office its biggest win since pulling off the deal for outfielder Kyle Tucker in December 2024.

But unlike Tucker’s disappointing single season in Chicago and eventual departure for Los Angeles in free agency, the Cubs need to spin this forward and extend their contention window. That means making other investments into the future, like extensions for second baseman Nico Hoerner, who’s set to become a free agent after 2026, and left-handed pitcher Justin Steele, whose arbitration years end after 2027.

Joey Christopoulos: Scholars have debated for centuries the kind of dance I’m doing right now and there still isn’t a word for it. Fair or unfair, contract extensions for home-grown players on the North Side have created a sense of trauma for this Cubs fan dating back to the 90’s (i.e., Greg Maddux).

And when the mass lot of the World Series core failed to sign long-term deals outside of Kyle Hendricks, that trauma resurfaced as a reminder that the business side of sports can be cruel.

But credit to Jed Hoyer for locking up one of the most exciting players the city of Chicago has seen in the last 20 years. And the best part? I don’t even need to know the terms of the contract to have a deep belief that PCA will outperform the contract by a sizeable margin.

He’s smart, he cares, he’s thoughtful, he’s hard on himself…and he’s perhaps the most talented player, in terms of five tools, the Cubs have ever rostered. Sure, there will still be bumps, but my belief in the kid is real. It seems Hoyer, chairman Tom Ricketts and the Cubs are in agreement with that belief.

Updated Tue. Mar. 24 at 6:20 p.m. to include contract terms.