Since May 23, Pete Crow-Armstrong has been the leadoff hitter in Craig Counsell’s lineup all but four times. In that same timeframe, Crow-Armstrong’s OPS has gone up by over 200 points, from .682 to .884. Through the first five games of this week’s homestand, Crow-Armstrong has homered four times.

There’s little question that Crow-Armstrong is thriving in this role. He’s embraced what batting at the top of the order means, especially when it comes to making his focus about getting on base however necessary.

“Starting off the game, getting on first base is priority one,” Crow-Armstrong said. “And if I can get on base in any way to start the game off, I think that’s doing my job as a leadoff hitter. So walk or not, hit, whatever it is, I think that’s how I contribute to this team’s success, is just being on first base.”

As a part of leaning into leading things off, Crow-Armstrong is drawing walks at a much higher rate than he has in his career. Last season, Crow-Armstrong reached via free pass 29 times, and so far in 2026, he has 28 walks. For an aggressive hitter, that’s a notable adjustment.

“The walks are a fun new thing that I’m kind of learning how to take,” he said. “But I’m going to swing and I’ll take the walks whenever they come really, but just taking pride in getting on first base to hopefully set everybody else up to drive people in.”

Counsell said Crow-Armstrong has thrived at the plate lately because even as he’s taking more walks, he’s remained in swing mode. In other words, Crow-Armstrong is still as aggressive at the plate as he ever has been, but he’s improving at choosing when to switch that off.

Crow-Armstrong is a multi-faceted offensive weapon, so adding a higher walk rate to his repertoire only makes him more dangerous. Crow-Armstrong leads the Cubs with 18 stolen bases this season, and his two-run homer to right field on Saturday brought his home run total to 16, putting him in a tie with Ian Happ for the most Cubs longballs.

Being able to reach via walk and then be a threat on the basepaths while also going to bat with the looming possibility of a game-changing homer makes Crow-Armstrong not just the best leadoff option for the Cubs, but the best overall hitter on the team, and even the league as a whole. No one has been as hot at the plate in the last 20 games as Crow-Armstrong.

And when he’s rolling, it becomes easier for the rest of the lineup to do the same. The Cubs offense scored 16 runs on Friday and another six in Saturday’s 8-6 loss to the Blue Jays, one that came down to the bullpen coming up short in the high-leverage innings.

Those things are going to happen over the course of a baseball season, especially with the Cubs bullpen working around several injuries that have forced guys to move into the rotation and into relief roles they wouldn’t normally take on.

The biggest issue over the last month and a half has been the offense’s struggles with driving runners in after they get to scoring position. The Cubs have improved on that front of late, and Crow-Armstrong’s performance has certainly been a factor in that.

“His production has been just excellent,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “That’s number one, what it’s done, his production has taken a big step forward, and that’s meaningful for us.”

It seems like the obvious choice to keep Crow-Armstrong in the leadoff spot from here on out. With a win on Sunday, the Cubs would take three series in a row for the first time since late April/early May, something that would help them continue climbing back up the standings.

And given that Crow-Armstrong’s production from the top spot in the order appears to be a catalyst for the offense as a whole, Counsell should have it easy when it comes to writing Crow-Armstrong’s name down first in his lineups.

But one thing that Counsell has been careful to avoid, at least outwardly, is laying out defined roles in situations like this. In the same way that Counsell has gotten his bullpen to embrace the idea of being “out-getters” whenever they’re called upon as opposed to having a set job as a reliever, he is getting similar buy-in from his offensive players about slotting into the lineup wherever they’re asked.

“Whether I enjoy it or not, yea, sure,” Crow-Armstrong said of leading off. “I just like playing baseball here and on this team. Anybody in this clubhouse would have the same answer too. They’d hit in the lineup wherever they were asked. So if this is what helps us the most, then that’s absolutely where I want to be.

“That’s what I want as well, more than anything it’s just to be where I’m going to be the most productive and beneficial.”

Counsell’s caution when it comes to keeping players in specific roles comes to some degree from the fact that a baseball season naturally requires regular adjustments, especially in a season as challenging as this one has been. Be those from responding to injury or team performance, Counsell doesn’t shy away from making tweaks to his lineup or being flexible about how he uses his pitching staff.

In Crow-Armstrong’s case, the last month of games would seem to indicate that he has made a strong argument for remaining in the leadoff spot. At least until he might be needed somewhere else in the lineup; given how the 2026 season has gone for the Cubs, it’s possible Crow-Armstrong’s production might be better utilized in a different part of the order.

“Somebody leads off every day, and then the next day somebody else can lead off,” Counsell said. “That’s how I’ve always seen it. It’s great if your players are playing so well that there’s no reason to change anything, but the seasons don’t always dictate that. Sometimes seasons require us to change, to do things differently. I think we had to do that this year.”

Provided that Crow-Armstrong continues to hit — his current pace is not realistically sustainable, of course — Counsell might eventually shift him elsewhere. When or if that happens, it would be as much because of Crow-Armstrong’s ability as anything else.

“Players with speed, with power, what what he’s showing on base, those are players [who] could hit first, they can hit second, they can go third, they can hit fourth and fifth,” Counsell said. “They’re everywhere, right? He has a lot of tools; he has a lot of ways to impact a game. Those are rare players for sure, and he’s impacting the game in every way right now.”