Former Mets Prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong Wins NL MVP as Franchise's Drought Continues

The New York Mets have played 65 seasons without an MVP winner. On Thursday, a player they drafted in the first round won the award unanimously for the Chicago Cubs.

Pete Crow-Armstrong received all 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, finishing ahead of Shohei Ohtani. The Cubs center fielder hit .280 with 45 home runs, 107 RBIs and 41 stolen bases, becoming the first player in franchise history with a 40-40 season.

The award followed Crow-Armstrong’s second straight National League Platinum Glove. He had finished ninth in the MVP voting in 2025 before sweeping the first-place votes this year.

The Mets selected Crow-Armstrong 19th overall in 2020 out of Harvard-Westlake High School in Los Angeles. He played just six games for Single-A St. Lucie before a shoulder injury ended his 2021 season.

That July, the Mets sent Crow-Armstrong to the Cubs for infielder Javier Báez, right-hander Trevor Williams and cash. He never played a major league game for New York.

Four Mets have come within one spot of winning the award. Tom Seaver finished second in 1969, Keith Hernandez in 1984 and Darryl Strawberry in 1988. Francisco Lindor joined them in 2024, finishing behind Ohtani.

Seaver was the runner-up in the same season the Mets won their first World Series. The club won another title in 1986, two years before Strawberry’s second-place finish. The franchise has had championship teams and players in the MVP race, and the two have even overlapped.

Lindor’s 2024 finish was the closest a Met had come since Strawberry. He drew 23 second-place votes and seven third-place votes, appearing in the top three on every ballot. Ohtani received all 30 first-place votes that year.

Lindor added a different honor this fall when he won the Roberto Clemente Award, which recognizes a player’s work in the community.

Crow-Armstrong is the Cubs’ first MVP since Kris Bryant in 2016. For the Mets, Thursday’s vote brings the 2021 trade back into view, but it also highlights how long the club has waited for a player to finish first. Seaver, Hernandez, Strawberry and Lindor all came close. New York enters its 66th season still waiting for someone to take the final step.