Craig Counsell talks balancing adjustments, preserving the special for Pete Crow-Armstrong
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What is the significance of Pete Crow-Armstrong in the Cubs lineup?
rahimi harrison groovy midday's title two on chicago sports radio centerfield here comes jackson narrow it falls for these hits he'd crawl armstrong puts the cubs on top in game three
That is thanks to 104.3 The Score. This is Rahimi Harris and Grody. We're still not used to saying that yet, and we have a game coming up. Today is your first chance to listen to Cubs baseball in crystal clear FM quality with the Cubs opening spring training against the White Sox in Mesa. Cubs and Sox to start spring training. Coverage begins at 155. I'm smiling so much I can't talk. Peeker Armstrong is not in the Cubs lineup today, at least not to start. But Craig Council was on with our afternoon show and talked with Spiegel and Holmes about trying to balance the excitement of PCA with the excitement of PCA.
That's what every player goes through. That's part of it, right?
Yeah.
I think the word is improvement, right? It doesn't have to – I think sometimes we think we want these – like go from zero to 60 here on some things.
How does Craig Counsell balance excitement with player development?
And I think improvement on what he accomplished last year, that's really how this thing works. You're just always improving. And I think – that's his mindset um i think spring training is a time to you know you have you have some thoughts you have you think you work on in the winter um you have goals on things that you want to improve on and you kind of you test those things out where where does it have me where does it take me um and then as you get closer you kind of hone that in as to what you're going to take into the season um in terms of some adjustments you made and Over the long haul, that stuff should add to improvement. You're going to miss on some things. You're going to hit on some things.
But over the long haul, that's improvement. And at Pete's age, I think we all know that athletes at Pete's age, that's what they go through.
I think it is as simple as trying to harness that excitement into just a little bit more plate discipline.
You want the refined plate discipline. There's a lot of energy there. There's a lot of potential there. There's a lot of everything there. Can you get it all just into every pitch that you see and just contain it like a nuclear, like a nuke?
What improvements does Pete Crow-Armstrong need to make this season?
You don't want the nuke to just explode and go everywhere because then people die. But if you can harness the nuclear energy, you can power a whole city.
So you want a laser.
Yeah.
Basically.
Yes, a laser from nuclear power that is PCA. A laser. I think all the right things are being talked about as it pertains to Pete Armstrong right now. Very good. Layla's doing the dance right now. I think the idea of, was it Sahada Sharma who wrote the article on the athletic? He's got to get smaller. All of that kind of stuff. The problem I see here with PCA is, is that once you get a taste of hitting the ball out the park, you know, like to a point where you're thinking, oh, man, I might be able to hit 40 home runs this season.
How can young athletes manage their excitement on the field?
You make it sound like he's addicted.
You also made his inner monologue sound like Hawk Harrelson.
I guess I'm all over the place.
I might just hit 40 home runs.
Let me tell you about Hawk Harrelson. I do like to talk about Hawk, and I have had addiction issues. So it all makes sense what you guys are saying about me right now. But I think once you've had that taste of hitting the ball over the wall, do you really want to go back to being a disciplined, get smaller hitter? And I'm sure that PCA will talk about that. I'm sure that he will try to do that. But wouldn't you, especially his age, 23, 24, whatever he is, in the back of his mind, man, he has had a taste of hitting home runs. How do you overcome that and then become, what, an 11 home run guy who gets on base a ton? When you hit 45 doubles. You think that's going to satiate? I don't think it would.
What role does plate discipline play in PCA's development?
I don't think it's going to satiate. Yeah, so that's what I worry about. We are in that period of time with baseball for both of our teams where everything is great. Everything's about getting better. And guys that were bad last year had slumps.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the significance of Pete Crow-Armstrong in the Cubs lineup?
0:00–1:18
2
How does Craig Counsell balance excitement with player development?
1:18–2:33
3
What improvements does Pete Crow-Armstrong need to make this season?
2:33–3:14
4
How can young athletes manage their excitement on the field?
3:14–4:03
5
What role does plate discipline play in PCA's development?
4:03–4:51
6
How does PCA's performance impact the Cubs' overall offense?
4:51–5:58
7
What challenges does PCA face after experiencing home run success?
5:58–7:18
8
What strategies can PCA adopt to improve his batting approach?
7:18–9:34
Speakers
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