Jimmy Crooks lifted after striking out twice

Home-field advantage. In the top of the eighth, Michael Harris II hit a flyball to right that would have been a homer in 26 ballparks, only to see it caught by Jordan Walker. In the bottom of the inning, Crooks sent one to right-center that was a homer in 24 ballparks, and in this case, Busch was one of them. In the top of the ninth, Drake Baldwin hit a ball to center that was a homer in 12 ballparks, but again, it was an out in St. Louis. Crooks’ homer was his second in 66 plate appearances since being called up. Having fallen back behind Pedro Pages on the depth start, Crooks has started just one of the last nine games, leaving his roster spot in doubt heading into the second half.

With left-hander Noah Cameron toeing the slab for the Royals, Nootbaar will get a breather. Fellow left-handed hitters Jimmy Crooks and Nathan Church are also out of the Cardinals’ lineup on Thursday. Nelson Velazquez will start in Nootbaar’s place in left field and will bat cleanup for the Cardinals on Thursday night in Kansas City.

Crooks got the start behind the plate in this one and put St. Louis ahead for good with a fourth-inning double into the left-center field gap. It wound up being more than enough run support for Cardinals starter Dustin May, who went the distance for his first career shutout.

Crooks’ homer was 97.5 mph off the bat and went a projected 374 feet. He later hit a ball 103.9 mph and 402 feet off A.J. Minter, but that was just a flyout. Crooks did have one homer in 46 plate appearances as a major leaguer last season, so today’s was the second of his career. He’s started six of the Cardinals’ 12 games and gone 4-for-22 since being called up two weeks ago.

Crooks got into 15 games for the Cardinals last season and finally got another call up to the big leagues earlier this week after hitting .262/.412/.567 with 13 homers in 39 games for Triple-A Memphis. The 24-year-old offers enough offensive upside that he’s worth monitoring in deeper mixed leagues. He’s unlikely to wrestle enough starts away from Iván Herrera to make a significant impact.

He’ll take Yohel Pozo’s roster spot, and given how little hitting Pedro Pages is doing, it’s possible Crooks could take a large role with the Cardinals over the last four months of the season. Crooks was hitting .262/.412/.567 at Triple-A Memphis with 13 homers.

Crooks now has four home runs and nine RBI on the season while slashing .375/.516/.917 with a 7/6 K/BB ratio and a 59 percent hard-hit rate. Meanwhile, Pedro Pages is hitting .182/.280/.318 and has minor league options remaining. No move is imminent, but if the performance disparity remains this stark by the end of the month, it could become more likely.

Crooks, who hit .133 in a 15-game cup of coffee last year in the majors, has gotten off to an unbelievable start this season, hitting .533 (8-for-15) with three homers through four games. The 24-year-old backstop’s path to at-bats with the Cardinals is extremely narrow with both Iván Herrera and Pedro Pagés handling the catching duties in the big leagues. He could force his way into St. Louis’ plans if he’s able to sustain this hot streak for a couple more weeks.

Hence is not long removed from being an upper-echelon prospect, but he was limited to just 21 innings due to injury in 2025. Bernal is one of the top catching prospects in baseball but likely is a couple years away from making his debut.

With Willson Contreras (shoulder) going on the IL, Burleson figures to be the starting first baseman for the Cardinals for the rest of the season. That should allow Ivan Herrera to continue to DH regularly with Pedro Pages and Jimmy Crooks splitting time at catcher. Crooks is starting on Wednesday and batting seventh.