“Is this real?” 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases, yet ranked No. 1 in defense across all of MLB... A sweep of the Gold Glove, a spot in the final three for MVP, and a Silver Slugger seem inevitable

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Achieving 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases alone was enough to etch his name into Major League Baseball history. Yet his defense was also the best in all of MLB. Pete Crow-Armstrong (24, Chicago Cubs), after winning the Gold Glove, was subsequently named a finalist for the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award and a candidate for the Silver Slugger, receiving further recognition for a season that was close to perfect in 2026.

The official Major League Baseball website, MLB.com, announced the final candidates for the 2026 Silver Slugger on the 6th (Korean time). Crow-Armstrong was named a candidate in the National League (NL) outfielder category alongside Corbin Carroll (26, Arizona Diamondbacks), Jackson Chourio (22, Milwaukee Brewers), Seiya Suzuki (32, Chicago Cubs), Fernando Tatis Jr. (27, San Diego Padres), Jordan Walker (24, St. Louis Cardinals), and James Wood (24, Washington Nationals).

Just four days earlier, he had won the Gold Glove for the second consecutive year. In the Gold Glove awards announced on the 3rd, Crow-Armstrong was selected as the winner in the NL center fielder category. It was a result everyone had anticipated. This year, Crow-Armstrong ranked No. 1 in all of MLB with +26 in both Statcast’s OAA (Outs Above Average, a defensive metric indicating how many outs a player records above the league average) and FRV (Fielding Run Value).

In particular, the +26 FRV is the highest single-season record for an outfielder since Statcast began tracking data in 2016. The OAA of +26 also ties Byron Buxton’s (33, Minnesota Twins) single-season high for an outfielder in the Statcast era, set in 2017. He also recorded a +10 in DRS (Defensive Runs Saved, a metric indicating how many runs a defender prevents).

What is remarkable is that this player is not an outfielder specialized in defense. Crow-Armstrong appeared in all 162 regular-season games this year, recording a .280 batting average (175 hits in 626 at-bats), 45 home runs, 107 RBIs, 119 runs scored, 41 stolen bases, an on-base percentage of .372, a slugging percentage of .570, and an OPS (on-base plus slugging) of .942. His 45 home runs tied Kyle Schwarber’s (33, Philadelphia Phillies) for the No. 1 mark in all of MLB, while his 41 stolen bases led the NL. He also led all of MLB with 357 total bases and 84 extra-base hits. According to Baseball-Reference, his WAR (Wins Above Replacement) was a massive 9.8.

He became the seventh player in MLB history to achieve 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in a single season. Furthermore, he is only the third player in history to record 45 home runs, 40 stolen bases, and 30 doubles simultaneously, following Alfonso Soriano (50, former New York Yankees) and Shohei Ohtani (32, LA Dodgers). Signs were already evident last year. In 2025, Crow-Armstrong posted a .247 batting average with 31 home runs, 95 RBIs, and 35 stolen bases, earning his first career Gold Glove and finishing ninth in the NL MVP voting.

The Cubs handed him a six-year, $115 million long-term contract ahead of the start of this season. And Crow-Armstrong immediately delivered a season that exceeded the organization’s expectations.

Crow-Armstrong was drafted by the New York Mets with the 19th overall pick in the first round of the 2020 amateur draft. However, the Mets sent him to the Cubs in a trade during the summer of 2021 for Javier Baez (34, then Chicago Cubs) and Trevor Williams (34, then Chicago Cubs), and five years later, he has become a franchise star for the Cubs.

The day after winning the Gold Glove, Crow-Armstrong was included in the final three for the NL MVP alongside Ohtani and Bryce Turang (27, Milwaukee Brewers). A player recognized as having the best defense in MLB via the Gold Glove is now also vying for the top offensive award. MLB.com praised Crow-Armstrong’s season this year as “one of the greatest individual seasons in the Cubs’ long history.”

Meanwhile, the American League (AL) Gold Gloves this year went to pitcher Tanner Bibee (27, Cleveland Guardians), catcher Dillon Dingler (28, Detroit Tigers), first baseman Christian Walker (35, Houston Astros), second baseman Cole Young (23, Seattle Mariners), shortstop Taylor Walls (30, Tampa Bay Rays), third baseman Caleb Durbin (26, Boston Red Sox), left fielder Cody Bellinger (31, New York Yankees), center fielder Seder Rafaela (26, Boston Red Sox), right fielder Willier Abreu (27, Boston Red Sox), and utility player Ezequiel Duran (27, Texas Rangers).

In the NL, pitcher Nolan McLean (25, New York Mets), catcher Gabriel Moreno (26, Arizona Diamondbacks), first baseman Matt Olson (32, Atlanta Braves), second baseman Turang, shortstop Geraldo Perdomo (27, Arizona Diamondbacks), third baseman Alex Bregman (32, Chicago Cubs), left fielder Chourio, center fielder Crow-Armstrong, right fielder Carroll, and utility player Mauricio Dubon (32, Atlanta Braves) claimed the golden gloves.

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original