Crooks

[imetsatchelpaige]

Hit his 8th home run for Memphis tonight. He'll be 25 years old in July. What are they waiting for?

For him to stop striking out 40% of the time. At AAA.
Care to project that SO rate in the bigs?
I am high on this kid, but he needs seasoning.

34.7% but irrelevant, it's bad.

His strike zone command is not good.
That said I am not sure that even having a SO rate less
than 30% wins a job over Pages at this time and
that is who he'd replace.
Call me skeptical at the very least.

Thanks for the correction.
He has apparently improved over the last ten days.

To the poster correctly pointing out the upside of his offensive stats, it is important to note that this, too, is AAA.
It is no small step into the bigs.
No reason to rush him in a rebuilding year. Don't screw it up ala' Walker.

[bfib]

Not sure how you rush a 25 year old

He’s going to age out of prospect status shortly

It’s very possible this is just what he is

[renostl]

Hit his 8th home run for Memphis tonight. He'll be 25 years old in July. What are they waiting for?

For him to stop striking out 40% of the time. At AAA.
Care to project that SO rate in the bigs?
I am high on this kid, but he needs seasoning.

34.7% but irrelevant, it's bad.

His strike zone command is not good.
That said I am not sure that even having a SO rate less
than 30% wins a job over Pages at this time and
that is who he'd replace.
Call me skeptical at the very least.

Thanks for the correction.
He has apparently improved over the last ten days.

To the poster correctly pointing out the upside of his offensive stats, it is important to note that this, too, is AAA.
It is no small step into the bigs.
No reason to rush him in a rebuilding year. Don't screw it up ala' Walker.

The difference was also called irrelevant.
Irrelevant because neither number is good.

He does have some really good hit rates.

Crooks and Walker have nothing to do with each other, imo.

Most importantly though, there isn’t a job opening. If there was we would probably see him rather quickly.

[StlMike1969]

I would be curious to know also on his SO rate what % is swing and miss vs looking. Either way I am in the club that in a rebuilding year when they are letting a guy like Scott get important at bats with the whole he will come around attitude it makes no sense to keep a guy like Crooks in Memphis. Trade Pages and let Crooks have the rest of the year to adjust as the starter. The team is not expected to win this year anyway and the added power Crooks brings is needed not to mention the defense. I am not saying that Crooks is a Molina but even Yadier had 3 subpar hitting seasons before he took off to be a more complete hitter. If Crooks can hit .270 25 HR's is anyone really going to care if he strikes out 140 times? Pages will never do those numbers nor Scott for that matter. Just sayin.

[2ninr]

Not sure how you rush a 25 year old

He’s going to age out of prospect status shortly

It’s very possible this is just what he is

Is it possible they would rather trade him before he is exposed to a lengthy ml runway?

[TraveledLessRoad]

Cal Raleigh struck out at a 35% clip in his first MLB Season...2021. Just saying...

[rockondlouie]

Hit his 8th home run for Memphis tonight. He'll be 25 years old in July. What are they waiting for?

For him to stop striking out 40% of the time. At AAA.
Care to project that SO rate in the bigs?
I am high on this kid, but he needs seasoning.

BINGO satch!

Crooks is a future trade piece, either midseason or sometime in 2027 or as soon as Bernal is ready (and then of course, R.R. if he stays behind the plate).

Tearing up AAA, even w/the KO's, still keeps his trade value high.

Bring him up before he develops a better contact rate and he flops (17 KO's in his 46 2025 PA's in MLB), the trade value plummets.

Bloom's walking a fine line w/him.

I loathe Pages playing but also don't want to see Crooks up until he's ready.

Didn't we learn anything from the Mo debacle?

[MIDMOBIRDTWO]

Crooks has an OB% over .400, and an OPS over 1.0. He has always driven in runs, but you guys keep drooling over Pages the great!

Oli is the one drooling over PP. His bestest bud.

[Melville]

Cal Raleigh struck out at a 35% clip in his first MLB Season...2021. Just saying...

Another example.
Hunter Goodman is striking out at a 37% clip this season.
He also has 12 XBH's, a .264 BA, and a .340 OBP.
He has a 28% K rate across 4 MLB seasons - but he also has a 30+ HR season, a 90+ RBI season, an ASG selection, and a Silver Slugger award.
Defensively, he is nowhere close to Crooks.
Many folks overlook that there is a very different value propositions based on position - and nowhere is that more true than at catcher.
Crooks is very good defensively - better than any of the 3 catchers in STL.
Crooks has a good arm.
He has rare power for the position.
The strikeouts, while high, are simply not a concern.
This is a year in which STL wants to learn - while also competing (at least, the is the public posture).
There is zero logical reason for Crooks to be in AAA when it is highly likely that he would be the best catcher on the roster if he was in STL - and is almost certainly their best option over the following couple of years as well.
Easy.
Obvious.
Correct.

[ramfandan]

For those very concerned about high strikeouts let me present this tad food for thought.

Would you trade a high number of strikeouts for 56 homeruns ?

Well, Kyle Schwarber had 56 home runs in 2025 and had the 197 strikeouts 3rd highest total in MLB.
Despite the enormous number of whiffs, he was highly coveted by several teams in free agency.

Not saying Crooks would hit 56 but the point is you can be productive with quite a few whiffs.
Catcher is a premium defensive position ( one of 3 with SS and CF)
Having a good defender like Crooks along with plus power is tough to find.

[Basil Shabazz]

Cal Raleigh struck out at a 35% clip in his first MLB Season...2021. Just saying...

Another example.
Hunter Goodman is striking out at a 37% clip this season.
He also has 12 XBH's, a .264 BA, and a .340 OBP.
He has a 28% K rate across 4 MLB seasons - but he also has a 30+ HR season, a 90+ RBI season, an ASG selection, and a Silver Slugger award.
Defensively, he is nowhere close to Crooks.
Many folks overlook that there is a very different value propositions based on position - and nowhere is that more true than at catcher.
Crooks is very good defensively - better than any of the 3 catchers in STL.
Crooks has a good arm.
He has rare power for the position.
The strikeouts, while high, are simply not a concern.
This is a year in which STL wants to learn - while also competing (at least, the is the public posture).
There is zero logical reason for Crooks to be in AAA when it is highly likely that he would be the best catcher on the roster if he was in STL - and is almost certainly their best option over the following couple of years as well.
Easy.
Obvious.
Correct.

^this

Strikeouts be damned. But, also let's be clear. The K% that people are dramatizing is based on very low sample sizes. Last year in MLB he K'd 37% of the time, IN 46 PAs!! This year in Memphis, he has K'd 35% of the time, IN 80 PAs! Note the small sample sizes!

Historically, he has K'd 24% of the time in MiLB, 18% of the time in College, and 18% of the time in Fall/Summer ball. Those are real sample sizes.

To Mels point, if we have a +glove and +arm catcher defensively with 20+ HR power from the left side that hits .270+ and gets on base at a .350+ clip, do we really care if he strikeouts 25% of the time? Bat that guy 7th all day long and play ball!

Further, get rid of Pages and probably Pozo too. Bring up Crooks and Torres. Crooks catches against RHP and Herrera catches against LHP. Torres plays LF and is the emergency catcher.

[ramfandan]

For those very concerned about high strikeouts let me present this tad food for thought.

Would you trade a high number of strikeouts for 56 homeruns ?

Well, Kyle Schwarber had 56 home runs in 2025 and had the 197 strikeouts 3rd highest total in MLB.
Despite the enormous number of whiffs, he was highly coveted by several teams in free agency.

Not saying Crooks would hit 56 but the point is you can be productive with quite a few whiffs.
Catcher is a premium defensive position ( one of 3 with SS and CF)
Having a good defender like Crooks along with plus power is tough to find.

[rockondlouie]

Another example.
Hunter Goodman is striking out at a 37% clip this season.
He also has 12 XBH's, a .264 BA, and a .340 OBP.
He has a 28% K rate across 4 MLB seasons - but he also has a 30+ HR season, a 90+ RBI season, an ASG selection, and a Silver Slugger award.

He also play's half his games at Coors Field in Denver.

[Ozziesfan41]

Another example.
Hunter Goodman is striking out at a 37% clip this season.
He also has 12 XBH's, a .264 BA, and a .340 OBP.
He has a 28% K rate across 4 MLB seasons - but he also has a 30+ HR season, a 90+ RBI season, an ASG selection, and a Silver Slugger award.

He also play's half his games at Coors Field in Denver.

He has 24 home runs in his career on the road in 475 at bats and 27 at home in 502 at bats. His average and OBP on the road is bad though but pages can’t hit for average or get on base so if crooks can hit about .200 like pages and provide some pop while playing better defense which wouldn’t be hard it would be a big improvement you could then platoon crooks and Herrera and get rid of pozo for a more useful bench player. If this is a runway for young players it should be crooks not pages pages is not the future

[Basil Shabazz]

Another example.
Hunter Goodman is striking out at a 37% clip this season.
He also has 12 XBH's, a .264 BA, and a .340 OBP.
He has a 28% K rate across 4 MLB seasons - but he also has a 30+ HR season, a 90+ RBI season, an ASG selection, and a Silver Slugger award.

He also play's half his games at Coors Field in Denver.

He has 24 home runs in his career on the road in 475 at bats and 27 at home in 502 at bats. His average and OBP on the road is bad though but pages can’t hit for average or get on base so if crooks can hit about .200 like pages and provide some pop while playing better defense which wouldn’t be hard it would be a big improvement you could then platoon crooks and Herrera and get rid of pozo for a more useful bench player

As I said above...

"Further, get rid of Pages and probably Pozo too. Bring up Crooks and Torres. Crooks catches against RHP and Herrera catches against LHP. Torres plays LF and is the emergency catcher."

[Ozziesfan41]

Another example.
Hunter Goodman is striking out at a 37% clip this season.
He also has 12 XBH's, a .264 BA, and a .340 OBP.
He has a 28% K rate across 4 MLB seasons - but he also has a 30+ HR season, a 90+ RBI season, an ASG selection, and a Silver Slugger award.

He also play's half his games at Coors Field in Denver.

He has 24 home runs in his career on the road in 475 at bats and 27 at home in 502 at bats. His average and OBP on the road is bad though but pages can’t hit for average or get on base so if crooks can hit about .200 like pages and provide some pop while playing better defense which wouldn’t be hard it would be a big improvement you could then platoon crooks and Herrera and get rid of pozo for a more useful bench player

As I said above...

"Further, get rid of Pages and probably Pozo too. Bring up Crooks and Torres. Crooks catches against RHP and Herrera catches against LHP. Torres plays LF and is the emergency catcher."

I like it