Jimmy Crooks powers Memphis surge with rapid home run climb
Jimmy Crooks has jumped to 13 homers by May 17 and tied for second in Triple-A, turning Memphis into a louder part of the Cardinals' promotion debate.
Jimmy Crooks is no longer just a Cardinals prospect with tools. He is hitting like a player who is forcing the next conversation, and the numbers are getting loud fast. The 24-year-old Memphis catcher had 11 home runs, tied for second in all of Triple-A, and then kept climbing, reaching 12 by May 9 and 13 by May 17.
That kind of pace changes the temperature around a player. Crooks, a left-handed hitter from Euless, Texas, was the Cardinals’ fourth-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft and reached St. Louis on Aug. 29, 2025. He was optioned back to Triple-A Memphis to open this season, but his bat has not looked like one that belongs in waiting mode for long. His 12th homer came on a two-run shot in a 13-6 loss at Toledo on May 9, another reminder that even when Memphis has been on the wrong side of the scoreboard, Crooks has kept producing.
The broader profile backs up the surge. Crooks hit .297/.409/.504 over 123 games across two seasons at Oklahoma, won Texas League MVP in 2024 and spent most of 2025 with Memphis before that late-season call to St. Louis. He even announced himself in the majors with a home run for his first career hit on Aug. 31, 2025, becoming the first Cardinals player to do that since Lane Thomas in 2019. That is not the kind of detail that usually belongs to a player still trying to settle into a level.
The Cardinals’ internal view of Crooks has only grown stronger as the power has piled up. Baseball America listed him as the club’s No. 9 prospect entering 2026, while MLB.com had him at No. 7 in May. Those rankings matter less than the production now unfolding in Memphis, where a catcher who also throws right-handed has turned a routine Triple-A assignment into a legitimate major-league pressure point.
That is the real question in St. Louis now. Is Crooks simply on a hot streak, or is this the start of a timeline that has to move? A catcher with plus power, a recent big-league debut and a home run total already sitting near the top of Triple-A does not stay invisible for long, especially when Memphis is bringing him back to AutoZone Park for a six-game homestand against Jacksonville. The bat is doing the talking, and it is getting harder for the Cardinals to answer with patience alone.
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