The Rundown: WBC Can’t Get Here Soon Enough, PCA Admits He Can ‘Come Off Like a Douche,’ Brown Now Has 4 Pitches

Between the Olympics ending and Marquee dialing back its spring training broadcast schedule, I’m looking forward to the World Baseball Classic with even greater anticipation than usual. Team USA plays its first game against Brazil at Houston’s Daikin Park, then will face Great Britain the following evening in what will be Tarik Skubal‘s lone WBC start. That’s been his plan all along, but Bob Nightengale’s report on it created a stir on Monday.

Skubal will only throw a few innings due to the timing of the start, then he’ll head back to Tigers camp in Lakeland, FL to finish prepping for the season. I can’t blame the defending back-to-back Cy Young winner for wanting to be at his best for his employer, especially knowing what we do about the increased injury rates for pitchers who have to ramp up earlier than usual. To that end, I’d like to see the WBC expand rosters so they aren’t pushing starters too soon.

Some folks feel Skubal is bailing on Team USA, and I can see how they might see it that way. He could have opted not to play at all, especially when his start comes against a team that shouldn’t be able to hang with their Revolutionary War opponents regardless of who’s on the bump. I’d counter by saying that something is better than nothing, and Skubal taking 3-4 innings keeps him healthy (fingers crossed) while saving other pitchers from carrying that workload.

PCA Admits to Abrasiveness in Chicago Mag Cover Story

Pete Crow-Armstrong is no stranger to making waves, and that was certainly the case online when quotes from his Chicago Magazine cover story (no paywall!) began to circulate on Monday. Written by the talented Wayne Drehs, a Cubs fan who postponed life-saving open-heart surgery to watch the 2016 World Series, the profile uncovered PCA’s mindset on and off the field.

Everyone sees the bats and helmets being slammed on the ground, and many take that as a sign that Crow-Armstrong is another Hollywood diva who can’t control his emotions. While not entirely untrue, the evident frustration comes from a burning intensity to be great. The elite center fielder is working on giving himself grace and maintaining perspective on the field, but he’s not going to stop being himself.

“I’m sure I come off like a douche sometimes,” PCA said. “That’s how I present my fun to people, I guess. I’m not loud anywhere else. I’m not riled up anywhere else. That’s where I get to do that stuff. So hell yeah, I rub people the wrong way.”

The young man won’t turn 24 until the day before the regular season starts, so it’s probably best for us to give him a little grace as well. An incredibly self-aware person, Crow-Armstrong understands what it’s going to take for him to achieve the level of greatness to which he aspires. Much of that is mental, finding a way to keep himself from speeding up unnecessarily.

Same goes for his future in Chicago, which is currently set to run through the 2030 season sans extension. He’s fallen in love with the city and has expressed a desire to remain there for as long as possible, perhaps even joining Bears QB Caleb Williams as the next Chicago sports icons. Crow-Armstrong is in no hurry to cash in on what should eventually be a nine-figure deal, but it also sounds like he’s not trying to set any precedents either.

“I play the game because I like beating other people,” PCA explained. “The money will be life-changing regardless. I would like to get a fair deal so I don’t fuck the market up. I want to look out for the other center fielders who have to go through the same process. Which is why I’m glad [Cubs management] and my agents are figuring out how to do this.”

Dodgers fans and those who’ve got an axe to grind with the burgeoning superstar took issue with him questioning their fidelity to the game, but that’s part of what makes him him. Don’t let the brashness or the funky fashion fool you: PCA has the same laser-focused commitment to winning as Alex Bregman. Come to think of it, Bregman was once a phenom who rubbed people the wrong way when he entered the league.

The more I see and hear from both players, the more I believe they’re mirror images of one another. There are differences, sure, but that passion to win is unmistakably identical in both.

“I saw what bringing playoff baseball back to the city meant,” Crow-Armstrong said. “That’s an easy, immovable goal. The fuck are you playing for if you’re not trying to play in the playoffs and win the World Series? There’s more to life than baseball, but maybe not for me right now. This shit is my life.”

Brown Adding Sinker to Kick for 4-Pitch Mix

Those of you who were around last year may recall how we covered Ben Brown‘s adoption of a kick change after I’d loudly advocated for it throughout the early part of the season. At the risk of tooting my own horn, I had identified some differences in his offspeed offering in May, about a month before it was confirmed that he was throwing a kick. He continued to work on that pitch over the winter while also mixing in a sinker that he’s never thrown at the MLB level.

“I developed a sinker and changeup this offseason,” Brown told Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic. “It’s the same changeup grip, it’s a kick. For the first time, I feel really in control of it, especially since it’s a pitch I learned halfway through last year. So having a whole offseason to work on it (helps). The sinker is completely new. It’s never been used in a big-league game.”

It doesn’t figure to jump off the page in terms of Statcast metrics, but having four pitches instead of two should help to keep hitters from being able to sit fastball or curve. Brown pitched yesterday, but no one outside the ballpark saw it since it wasn’t televised.

That same Sharma article also touches on adjustments Jordan Wicks made, like tweaking his curveball to reduce the “bump” out of his hand and make it more competitive in the zone. He also changed his sinker grip for more seam-shifted action, along with doing a better job of sitting in his glute rather than being quad-dominant.

More News and Notes

• The Braves have agreed to a one-year extension with Chris Sale that will pay the lefty $27 million in 2027 with a $30 million club option for ’28.
• The Yankees have rescinded their pre-agreement with Venezuelan player Albert Mejías, a member of the 2030 international free agent class. That nixes a potential $7 million bonus ($6.4 million plus $600K a scholarship) that would have been the largest in IFA history, but a shakeup in New York’s international scouting department has seen them terminate other agreements.
• According to Wilber Sánchez, new international director Mario Garza determined that scouting reports on Mejías were not accurate. This is a good time to remind you that this kid is like 12 years old. I don’t give a shit about the reports’ accuracy, as he’s too young for them to have mattered anyway.
• This seedy segment of baseball’s talent factory is wildly out of control and needs to be curbed six ways to Sunday.
• Michael Conforto has arrived at Cubs camp, but he’s not in the lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Padres.
• Shōta Imanaga is starting, however, and he is among the pitchers who could be helped most by the new ABS strike zone. Matthew Boyd is right up there as well. Both like to throw high fastballs and should benefit from their command earning them more strikes at the upper corners.

Trailer Time

No movie today, but we do have a behind-the-scenes video from PCA’s cover shoot.