Center Stage: Baseball's Two Most Electrifying Center Fielders Share Field for First Time This Week

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Jordan Johnson-Imagn Images, © Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

By the time the Minnesota Twins visited Wrigley Field last August, Pete Crow-Armstrong had begun the breakout that has made him one of the main characters of Major League Baseball in 2025. He wasn't yet the player he's been this season, but he'd made an important change to his mechanics that had unlocked some power, and that made it easier for him to stay in the lineup—where his defense and baserunning could lend him major value. That week, though, Byron Buxton was sidelined by back tightness, after he'd slammed into a wall making a catch in the previous series. The Twins' star center fielder missed the whole series.

Thus, Tuesday night will be the first time that the same center field is graced by both Crow-Armstrong and Buxton on the same day. It's an exhilarating moment, for fans of each of the teams involved and for the game itself. When the All-Star Game begins in Georgia one week from now, Crow-Armstrong will be in center field for the National League. It's very likely that, before that game is over, Buxton will take over in center for the American League, the local product made good. This week, however, the two get to put on their own exhibition, taking center stage in one of the game's most dazzling jewel-box ballparks.

Not only are these baseball's two best center fielders so far, but any argument for anyone else feels a bit faint—a bit pale and silly. Julio Rodríguez and Jackson Chourio have the kind of talent to keep pace with these two, but neither is having that kind of season. Jackson Merrill has been diminished by injuries after an extraordinary rookie season, but his tools don't match those of Crow-Armstrong and Buxton. If you buy unreservedly into the defense of Ceddanne Rafaela or Jake Meyers, you can put them almost on the same level for this year, alone, but eventually, you have to reconcile the numbers with what you see when the players all take the field. Nothing any of these others have done, this year or in the past, quite allows you o do that the way you can with Buxton and Crow-Armstrong.

The version of the game these two play is pulsing, sizzling, searing. It transcends their numbers—although, this year, their numbers are sterling. They take over games in ways no other players seem capable of, thanks to a rare combination of tools, skills, and baseball IQ.

In many ways, they're mirror images of one another, sharing obvious similarities but defined by some of their differences. Buxton is a strapping 6-foot-2, listed at 189 pounds (but probably lighter) when he came up in 2015, but now a sturdy 210 pounds (probably heavier, though only slightly). He's a Black man from small-town southeast Georgia, and a right-handed hitter, wearing No. 25 on his back. Crow-Armstrong is a flat 6 feet, and is listed at 190 pounds. Unlike the version of Buxton who weighed that much a decade ago, though, he looks almost maxed-out at that weight; his frame doesn't imply forthcoming growth the way Buxton's did. The son of two actors, he's a White man from a wealthy section of Los Angeles, and a left-handed hitter. He switched to No. 4 this year, but came up wearing 52—Buxton's number, flipped.

Once the game begins, though, their similarities take over. Both have the same, lonely rough edge on their games: an extremely aggressive approach at the plate. Both have major power, beyond what you'd expect—especially from Crow-Armstrong, but even from the broad-shouldered Buxton. Both have explosive speed, which shows up in the near-impossibility of turning double plays against them and in their ability to steal bases almost without risk. (Indeed, their efficiency on steal attempts is as notable as the volume of bases they take.) Both also have the rare gifts that make up an exceptional defensive center fielder. There's the speed, of course, but also great arm strength, tremendous reads and the ability to adjust in whatever way is necessary to make the play at the last moment.

Each player takes pride in their glovework, but each also takes such immense pleasure in a clutch hit that they neither can nor attempt to hide it. Each plays with an intensity and a fearlessness that occasionally imperils them, but that also colors in their game with the detail and dimension that turns a very good player into a great one.

Buxton has stretched his body past its breaking point many times, either by colliding with things too recklessly or by moving so ferociously that his ligaments and tendons simply couldn't keep up. At times, it's looked like Crow-Armstrong would do the same thing, but his great jumps in the outfield have gotten him to most balls with time to spare, and he's been wise enough not to try to run through the bricks and ivy at Wrigley Field.

Playing every aspect of the game well. Pushing the capacity of one player to become the focal point of an entire game past its usual limits. The frisson of danger that runs up your spine each time they vault themselves after a drive into the gap; the shockwave they send through the ball when they catch it clean. Although Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani are the best players in baseball, and although it might be wiser to invest in Bobby Witt Jr. or Juan Soto than in either Buxton or Crow-Armstrong, none of those players are as vividly great—as sparking with ways to win games that don't both to hide themselves—as these two are.

Buxton leads MLB with six games this year in which he's both hit a home run and stolen a base. Crow-Armstrong uses his balletic footwork to stop and thwart baserunners, turning a strong arm up to maybe the game's most useful. Buxton robbed White Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi of a game-flipping gapper and sealed a Twins win in April, on a play even the other center fielders all around him marveled at. Crow-Armstrong created a run last month when he stole third base, then caught the third baseman in a tractor beam, froze him and beat him back to the base on a ground ball, setting up a rally.

Each player had a sequence in mid-June in which they made a rally-stopping, diving catch on a play in left-center field, then hit their longest home run of the season in the next half-inning. Buxton did it on June 11, taking runs off the board for the visiting Rangers with a catch to end the top of the third:

He then hit a ball 479 feet with two on in the bottom half of that frame.

Six days later, Crow-Armstrong turned a hit that would have put the tying run on base in the top of the eighth into an out.

Leading off the bottom of that frame, he hit one high off the video board above the right-field wall.

Each of these two can turn a run or two for the opponents into none, and then create runs for their own team in the blink of an eye. Each has a good chance to hit 30 or more homers and steal 30 or more bases this year. Crow-Armstrong and Buxton are superstars, at their best. This might be the end of Buxton's prime, and Crow-Armstrong might go through plenty of rough patches in years ahead. That's why this matchup is so special. Two uniquely brilliant players will take the field in turns this week, at their absolute best. More than just a trailer for it, this could be the game's best center fielders' own private version of the All-Star Game.

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[MinnInPa]

never heard of that Cubbie

[Tjwalsh65]

39 minutes ago, MinnInPa said:

never heard of that Cubbie

I have just recently.  Interesting path to MLB.

[Linus]

Enjoyable read. 

[thelanges5]

Too bad Buck doesn’t have a supporting cast like PCA. Lots of Cubs fans here at my work so should be an interesting week.

[MMMordabito]

Good article.

Main difference is the massive disparity in supporting actors.  PCA is 5th on his team in OPS+ at 143.

Buck is sitting at 138 and doesn't have another teammate with even a 120.

PCA has four Gold Glove winners in front of him and flanking him.  Buck has the shadow of C4 and his platinum.

Also, disagree on Witt, Jr being not as vividly great.  IMO, he looks like he's playing the game at a different speed, much the way young Randy Moss looked in football.  

 

[MMMordabito]

2 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

Too bad Buck doesn’t have a supporting cast like PCA. Lots of Cubs fans here at my work so should be an interesting week.

[LambchoP]

Cubbies will probably sweep us in embarrassing fashion this week. At least it should put the team into sell mode and we can start to plan for next year.....

[Road trip]

2 hours ago, MMMordabito said:

Good article.

Main difference is the massive disparity in supporting actors.  PCA is 5th on his team in OPS+ at 143.

Buck is sitting at 138 and doesn't have another teammate with even a 120.

PCA has four Gold Glove winners in front of him and flanking him.  Buck has the shadow of C4 and his platinum.

Also, disagree on Witt, Jr being not as vividly great.  IMO, he looks like he's playing the game at a different speed, much the way young Randy Moss looked in football.  

 

Point one, yes, that is truly an amazing year the Cubs lineup is having.  Carson Kelly's past would indicate that this half-year is an unsustainable fluke, but Kyle Tucker is gonna keep on hitting like always I suppose, and it is possible that Michael Busch might too.

And I also strongly disagree on Witt.  He's arguably the most exciting player in MLB, and much like Buxton is carrying the Royals offense almost by himself.  Unlike Buxton, he's been blessed with great health throughout his time in MLB.

[Rhyno006]

Speaking of Buxton, I just read an article on the four letter sports network that mentioned possible landing spots for him at the trade deadline... so I am curious what others here think on the subject of the team possibly putting Buck on the trade block? 

[RpR]

1 hour ago, Rhyno006 said:

Speaking of Buxton, I just read an article on the four letter sports network that mentioned possible landing spots for him at the trade deadline... so I am curious what others here think on the subject of the team possibly putting Buck on the trade block? 

It would be an asinine move.