This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.
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Crow-Armstrong, 24, is the latest example of the powerful combination of youth and experience. Jordan Walker, about six weeks younger than Crow-Armstrong, is another example from this year. We used to talk about the age-23 breakout, when a player who made the majors at 20 or 21 could leverage physical maturity with knowledge gained in MLB to make a big leap forward. It’s why merely getting to the majors at a very young age is, all by itself, a sign of potential greatness. PCA was 18 when he was drafted, lost time to injury, and still reached the majors at 21, was a very good regular at 22 and 23, and launched at 24.
If Crow-Armstrong had started the 2026 season as this player, it would not be as interesting. He did not. He started this season, across the board, as the player he’d been over the final five months of ’25. Across ten days at the end of April, a switch flipped, and he morphed into the best player in baseball.
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You can subscribe to the newsletter for one year for $79.95
using your PayPal account or major credit card. (Zelle users, please email me for details.)
