As one of MLB’s most prolific defenders, Pete Crow-Armstrong has a knack for making difficult plays look routine.

The Chicago Cubs center fielder also can turn near-impossible plays into web gems, like he did in Saturday’s 2-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field.

With one away in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Cubs holding a slim lead, Reds center fielder TJ Friedl hit a sinking line drive into left-center that looked to be a sure single. After all, expected batting average on the ball was .850, per Baseball Savant.

Instead, Crow-Armstrong got a massive jump on the ball, perfectly tracking it to make a shoestring catch as Cubs closer Daniel Palencia lifted his hands in the air with gratitude.

Palencia struck out the next hitter to seal the win as the NL Central-leading Cubs improved to 36-22.

“When a ball like that is hit, because Pete’s out there, you think he might have a chance,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell told reporters after the game. “If it was a one-run game, do you go for that ball? Two-run game, you go for that ball. It’s fun watching him do it.”

Crow-Armstrong has more than earned that belief from his manager. Among MLB outfielders this season, he’s recorded the most outs above average (9) — a metric that measures a fielder’s ability to make plays ranging in difficulty based on catch probability.

Crow-Armstrong is in a league of his own when it comes to the most difficult catches to make on a baseball field. He’s converted four of the eight plays with a catch probability between 0 and 25 percent that he’s seen, with Saturday’s play checking in at 10 percent.

Plays like that make Crow-Armstrong’s 2025 season look quite Gold Glove-worthy thus far. Ian Happ, a three-time winner of the award and the only Cubs left fielder to do so, gave a ringing endorsement of his young teammate’s defense.

“That ball was sinking, and Pete just got a great beat on it,” Happ said. “For us as corner guys playing next to him, you just go back him up because he’s going to be flying after (the ball) and trying to make a play.”

Since Wrigley Field has the deepest right and left field lines out of all MLB stadiums (353 and 355 feet, respectively), it reduces the space available in center field. To Happ, it makes what Crow-Armstrong is doing all the more impressive.

“Wrigley doesn’t do him any justice for how far he can run and how much room there is,” Happ said. “If you get him in a place like Colorado, where there’s a big outfield and he can run around — it’s just incredible how good the jumps are.”

It’s fitting that it was at Coors Field where Crow-Armstrong made the first incredible catch of his MLB career in 2023 — a leaping grab while running full speed toward the warning track in left-center.

That was just the beginning of what already has become an elite defensive career for Crow-Armstrong. Saturday’s catch only further exemplified how crucial he’s been to the Cubs.

“(It was) a huge spot there to get that second out and not let (the Reds) have any momentum,” Happ said. “He’s been fantastic out there.”