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Cub fans can be a cynical lot. The second half of Pete Crow-Armstrong‘s 2025 season feeds into that. He’s been bad in the second half. He has a woeful .259 on-base percentage and a lousy .352 slugging average in the second half, a far cry from the first half (.302 and .544). Memories of 2023 Christopher Morel popped into a few people’s heads. Are the comparisons apt?
Morel—a high-energy, nose-pierced, toolsy player—first came up in 2022, but his breakout came in 2023, when he socked 26 home runs and slugged .508. Much hype was attached to his 2024; he did not deliver. Morel didn’t top .200 in batting average before he was traded to Tampa Bay as part of the Isaac Paredes trade.Â
On the surface, the two players seem similar at the plate. They employ a pull-heavy, power-oriented swing, and are similarly built physically. Both have had electric stretches at the plate. Morel hit .281/.345/.545 over his first 250 plate appearances of 2023. Crow-Armstrong had a span of 328 trips to the plate that ran into the All-Star break over which he batted .280/.311/.606. Morel fell off badly (.268 OBP for the rest of 2023), though, and hasn’t rebounded (.692 OPS in Tampa); Crow-Armstrong has cratered, as well. The question is: can we expect a different fate for Crow-Armstrong, in the medium term?
The superficial similarities leap out, but the truth is:Â They aren’t that similar! Morel was a much more patient hitter, waiting for his pitch and hitting it hard at a high rate. Crow-Armstrong, conversely, does not walk at a high level, but makes more contact. Crow-Armstrong’s swing is very steep; Morel’s is one of the league’s flattest. The destination is about the same, but the journeys that take them there are quite different.Â
Let’s talk batted-ball profile.Â
Stat Category
Crow-Armstrong
  Morel
 League Average
Launch Angle
18.9
12.4
12.4
Pull %
44
47
37
Pull in Air
28.7
26.7
16.7
Ground Ball %
42
42
42
Tilt
  35°
  29°
32
These are fascinating. They both pull the ball at roughly the same rate, and also pull the ball in the air at nearly identical ones. Their ground ball rate is identical.
An astute fan would point out the extreme value that Crow-Armstrong has in the field and on the bases; Morel has turned out to work only as a mediocre defensive left fielder. This is all true, and will ensure a higher overall floor for Crow-Armstrong. Purely at the plate, though, he’s struggled, and that has stripped him of MVP candidate talk.
Some great players do have a tilt higher than his, but Crow-Armstrong is an outlier in plate approach. To make the leap, he’ll have to choose his pitches better, and strike on his terms more. The list below is notable for the walk rates:
Crow-Armstrong’s average launch angle is 20°, which places him 18th in the league. Cal Raleigh leads the league at 25°, and he’s obviously been a great power hitter. Crow-Armstrong’s is higher than noted sluggers Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber. He doesn’t have a power hitter’s frame, but he does have a power hitter’s approach.
The average player swings at 45% of pitches. Crow-Armstrong swings at 61%. He needs to fix this, or risk a boom-and-bust profile for the rest of his career. Players with his swing profile who have had success had much more patient plate approaches. They selectively look for their pitch and attack it. Crow-Armstrong has just looked to attack.Â
Crow-Armstrong and Morel have shown similar results at some similar career junctures, but the approach they have taken is vastly different. In hindsight, metrics did agree with Morel being a solid player. He just lacked the bat control to make consistent contact. Crow-Armstrong does not lack bat control. He simply lacks a command of the strike zone, and his approach is to seek and destroy any pitch, not wait for his.Â
Yes, the second-half slump stings. But Crow-Armstrong’s combination of defense, speed, and a unique swing profile makes him a different case than Morel. If he finds even league-average discipline at the plate, the MVP chatter that briefly swirled in the first half could return for good.
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