Cardinals promote Jimmy Crooks, Nelson Velázquez in Memphis roster shuffle

St. Louis turned a Memphis hot streak into immediate big-league opportunity Friday, and the biggest winner was Jimmy Crooks. Before the series opener against the Cubs at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals recalled Crooks from Triple-A Memphis and selected the contract of Nelson Velázquez, then sent catcher Yohel Pozo and infielder César Prieto back to Memphis to make room.

The move was about more than filling two seats. Oliver Marmol signaled Crooks would back up Ivan Herrera and still receive meaningful playing time, which gives the Cardinals a real test of whether the 24-year-old catcher can carry his Triple-A production into a larger major-league role. That matters because Crooks was hitting .262 with a .412 on-base percentage and a .567 slugging percentage for Memphis, with 13 home runs, 29 RBIs and a .979 OPS in 141 at-bats. He had also been driving the ball with authority in recent days, homering on May 9 and again on May 10, when MLB.com listed the blast as his 12th of the season.

Crooks’ rise has been hard to ignore. MLB Pipeline ranks him as the Cardinals’ No. 7 prospect, and the organization has now moved him from depth piece to active roster option. Drafted in the fourth round, 127th overall, out of Oklahoma in 2022, Crooks made his MLB debut on August 29, 2025 and later belted his first major-league homer for St. Louis. This call-up gives him a chance to do more than flash power in Memphis; it gives him innings behind the plate and a chance to prove he can handle Herrera’s backup job right away.

Velázquez’s promotion served a different need, but an urgent one all the same. The right-handed-hitting outfielder was batting .232 with a .344 on-base percentage and a .420 slugging percentage for Memphis, with seven home runs and four stolen bases. With Lars Nootbaar on a rehab assignment to Memphis and the Cardinals looking for extra offense and outfield depth, Velázquez gives St. Louis another bat to cycle through the roster while it searches for more production in the lineup’s lower half.

The Cardinals also had the 40-man roster space to make the move, thanks to left-hander Jared Shuster being designated for assignment weeks earlier. For Memphis, the shuffle removed two important names. For St. Louis, it was a direct answer to a lineup that needed help now, and a roster move built around players who could matter immediately.