The subtle adjustment that turned Petecrow's season around

Over his first 19 games this season, Petecrow Armstrong was struggling, slashing just .227/.275/.293 with a homer, five RBI, four stolen bases in six attempts and 24 strikeouts in 75 at bats. Paired with the bad finish to his 2025 season, some people were worried that the Cubs had erred in giving him a $115 million contract extension.

But, in his last 15 games, he's vastly improved in all four areas, hitting .250/.339/.442 with two homers, eight RBI and two stolen bases.

Do you know what Petecrow did to turn his season around?

I'm actually asking, because I don't know what it is.

He isn't taking more pitches. He's not showing better plate discipline. He is still striking out in roughly a third of his at bats (15 in 52 ABs during the last 15 games).

But whatever he's doing it's working, so keep it up, Pete!

To be fair, in his last seven games he has cut his strikeouts down to just 20% of his at bats (five in 25 ABs). So maybe he is doing something. Or, maybe he's just good, and he's going to always be streaky?

Whatever Petecrow did, maybe Michael Busch did it, too? Busch started the season like shit, hitting just .169/.276/.200 over his first 18 games, with no homers and three RBI. He hit two doubles on opening day and then didn't get another extra base hit for nearly a month. He went from March 27 to April 23 without one. That's actually kind of impressive.

But over his last 15 games he's slashing .271/.362/.492 with two homers and 14 RBI. The Cubs? They're 12-3 over that span and are currently leading the NL Central by two games over the Cardinals and Reds.

Cardinals? Sure, whatever.