shared some high praise for Cardinals<\/a> catching prospect Jimmy Crooks, going as far as suggesting Crooks could have an impact on the big-league club this season.<\/p>\nJimmy Crooks could make an impact in St. Louis![\"St.](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/01kgqvzym6gab6dryx6d.jpg\" "\\"St.")
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Sep 23, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; St. Louis Cardinals catcher Jimmy Crooks (8) stands at bat against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
“Another intriguing backstop, Jimmy Crooks is ahead of Bernal in the pecking order, given that he\u2019s already had a taste of big-league action,” Akbani wrote. “After struggling to begin 2025, he surged in the second half, mustering a 129 wRC+ over his final 136 PAs. Crook\u2019s offensive game currently lags behind his defense, showing poor plate discipline amid average contact and power.<\/p>\n
“Behind the dish, he showcases an impressive throwing arm, nabbing 29.4% of baserunners at Memphis. Jimmy\u2019s also an above-average framer and blocker, and has been lauded at every level for effortlessly shepherding his pitching staffs. He currently profiles as an average starter and looks like an outstanding backup at worst.”<\/p>\n
Crooks is one of the better catching prospects in baseball, but he plays in an organization that has multiple top catching prospects. Still, Crooks has a good chance to stick at the position long term because of his defense.<\/p>\n
He might be the Cardinals’ third best catching prospect, but he might also be their best defensive backstop. If he can find a league average bat in his potential, there’s not reason the Cardinals couldn’t use him in the starting lineup while the other top catching prospects see more time at designated hitter.<\/p>\n
It’s too early to tell how this situation will shape up, but it’s clear that Crooks has the potential to be a key piece of the Cardinals’ future.<\/p>\n
More MLB: Cardinals’ 25-Year-Old Outfielder on Verge of Breakout Year<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The St. Louis Cardinals are rebuilding as aggressively as any team in the league right now. They’ve swung…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2403],"tags":[5,160,4,673,67,4311,4310],"class_list":{"0":"post-556883","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-louis-cardinals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cardinals","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-st-louis","12":"tag-st-louis-cardinals","13":"tag-stlouis","14":"tag-stlouiscardinals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116020725606573491","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}