CHICAGO — Pete Crow-Armstrong was seemingly carrying the Cubs offense for swaths of the first half of the season.

August, though, was a much different case.

The All-Star slashed .160/.216/.230 (.446 OPS) with a home run, four doubles, five RBI and a 22 weighted runs created plus, 78 percentage points below league average.

What do the Cubs make of this stretch?

“I see a young player struggling,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said of the 23-year-old before Monday’s series opener against Atlanta.

It was always asking a lot for Crow-Armstrong to post a 40-home run, 40-stolen base season in his second full year in the majors, like he was on pace for at points this season, but it’s still a bit surprising to see this drop-off offensively.

Part of that might be just how dominating he was to start the year. He started the year a bit slow, hitting .197 with a .521 OPS through his first 71 games, but after a two-homer game in Los Angeles on April 13, he went on a heater that led him to start in center field for the National League at the All-Star Game.

“I see a guy that’s just struggling and is a little bit frustrated as he works through it,” Hoyer said. “I was just watching him hit in the cage right now, he’s certainly putting the work in to find it. The hope is that it clicks here in the next month.

“Not entirely surprising, guys have ups and downs. He really didn’t have any downs [in the first half].”

There’s also the potential that fatigue might have set in a bit for Crow-Armstrong. His 134 games this season are the most he’s ever played in a year, and doing so at the highest level of the game is no small feat. The Cubs took action to try and help that possibility.

They optioned Owen Caissie before Monday’s game, recalling another top-100 prospect, Kevin Alcántara, to take his place. Alcántara can play strong center field defense and crushed left-handed pitching to the tune of a .319/.398/.604 (1.002 OPS) slash line. The Cubs might use Alcántara in center field against lefties to give Crow-Armstrong some time off and try to maximize offense.

“Hoping to give Pete some more days off, and you want him fresh and playing well,” Hoyer said. “So that was the mindset.”

Because, while days off won’t hurt Crow-Armstrong, the Cubs still want him in the lineup every day, offensive struggles or not.

“I think he struggles and he still, every day, helps us win games. His defense is just unbelievable,” Hoyer said. “And I think that as I talk about our pitching staff, I think a huge part of that is our defense. He still helps us win every day.”