CHICAGO — The music blared over the speakers in the Cubs clubhouse on Tuesday night, as is customary after a win.
But off to the side in the clubhouse, Carlos Santana — who had joined the organization the day before — sat at his locker in serious conversation with the Cubs’ budding superstar, Pete Crow-Armstrong.
The All-Star had the day off — entering in the ninth inning as a defensive replacement — and didn’t play in Wednesday’s finale as he was mired in an offensive slump where he was hitting .163 since Aug. 1.
Players want to be in the lineup every day, and that had weighed on the Cubs’ star, something Santana noticed. So, he pulled the youngster aside.
“First of all, I know what type of player he is, and at the end, I got the impression that he was missing something,” Santana said after the Cubs’ 11-5 win over the Washington Nationals on Friday. “I began to talk to him and tell him how talented he is, his credentials in this game, that he plays well; things like that, motivational things.
“We’ve had a really good relationship, and everything has flowed since.”
It’s a prime example of how Santana and three others – Cubs manager Craig Counsell and veterans Justin Turner and Ian Happ – have helped guide Crow-Armstrong during a breakout campaign; one he hopes to get back on track offensively with the playoffs around the corner.
Santana is obviously a newer figure in Crow-Armstrong’s life, as the Cubs just signed the veteran first baseman on Monday.
But Crow-Armstrong has been leaning on the other leaders throughout his career.
It was a conversation with Counsell — and the relationship he has built with the Cubs manager over the last two years — that allowed the young center fielder to take a few days off (including Thursday’s Cubs off-day) to reset mentally and physically.
The result of the three-day break was immediate: Crow-Armstrong drove in two runs on sacrifice flies and collected two singles in Friday’s win.
Crow-Armstrong acknowledged that the Cubs’ strong position in the playoff race (99.9% playoff odds, per FanGraphs) afforded him the opportunity to take a couple games off to get right. And he trusted Counsell’s judgement in the situation.
“Yeah, I mean, I kind of surrendered to him when he came in and I think he gets it,” Crow-Armstrong said. “And based on my assumption of who he was when he came in here for the first time, I think his first impression was great. So kind of from the jump, I just put my trust in him. And then as we’ve gone on here, it’s, continuing to evolve into a really good relationship.”
Crow-Armstrong still remembers the first thing — the only thing — Counsell asked him when they sat down in spring training 2024, during Counsell’s first camp on the job after a nine-year stint with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Counsell asked Crow-Armstrong to show him that he could be trusted to “go make the next play,” meaning he could move on from a result — good or bad — and be ready for the next opportunity on the diamond.
“I’ve held on to that, and I’ve loved that, just because the result is irrelevant there,” Crow-Armstrong said. “It’s about moving forward. And I mean, [Turner] has been pretty freaking impactful for me this year, and then, you know, Couns, and the guys being able to bring in Carlos, that was kind of an immediate impact on me as well.
“So, yeah, I definitely think that I’ve earned the trust and continue to show some immaturity at times. And that’ll get better as we go. But yeah, I trust him fully, but that is a part of my daily goals, is to continue earning everyone’s trust.”
This isn’t the first time a Cubs player has called attention to Turner’s behind-the-scenes impact unprompted. The veteran has only made 39 starts during his first season in Chicago, but he has found a way to help the team in an intangible way.
“He’s your pro’s pro,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I’d be foolish not to listen to his life and career experiences, and he’s been very generous with all that. He presented himself to me from the first day that we were teammates.
“And that’s why I’m really excited about having Carlos here, too, is you’ve only heard really good things about him from afar, in terms of who he is, as a leader and a guy in the clubhouse. So JT, he’s just given himself to this team in a way that you kind of can’t put a price on or value in a stat line. JT has done a whole lot of good for this clubhouse as a whole.”
The Cubs have also seemingly found a good fit with the personalities of their leaders.
Turner is good-natured and positive, while Santana is more intense.
They’re also two of the oldest players in the league — Turner is 40 and Santana is 39 — and they have more than 3,900 career games between the two of them.
“[Turner] is not the toughest guy, but he’ll be honest and blunt as he needs to be,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I think Carlos, I’m starting to learn he’s a little more the guy that you’re a little more attentive to when it comes to the point he’s trying to make, only because he just approaches it a little differently.
“And that’s the beauty of it is, like, you got JT who’s more laid back and loves just getting in a conversation. And you can just tell speaking to Carlos that he’s intense and that he loves this game and he loves being a part of great things. So yeah, it’s a little bit of both. It usually is for me, but I really respond to that little kick in the ass. I kind of love it.”
Crow-Armstrong is soaking up all he can during his first full season in “The Show.”
He credited Happ with playing a major role on defense, advising Crow-Armstrong on the nuances of Wrigley Field and how to manage the wind and sun.
That played out Friday, as Crow-Armstrong lost a ball in the sun in the fourth inning that ended up as a triple.
“As the year goes on, Ian told me this — a pretty cool little tidbit,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Just Ian’s experience out there — he was able to tell me a couple years ago that as the season goes on, the sun gets a little higher, which has proven to be true.
“So day games towards the end [of the season], I think the sun kind of just hangs up and covers more of the outfield instead of being off to a side. And I don’t think that the sun gets nearly as far out of our sight later in the year.”
All of those little lessons and conversations have paid off for Crow-Armstrong, who has the highest WAR (6.3) in the league by Baseball Reference’s metric.
And the Cubs are certainly hoping Crow-Armstrong will continue to put that advice into practice and get back to the player he was in the first half, when he was firmly alongside Shohei Ohtani in the NL MVP conversation.