Sooner State Baseball Report

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Jimmy Crooks Named Cardinals Hitting Prospect of the Year

The Sooner alum had a monster year for AA, Springfield.

Sooner State Baseball Report
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In case you missed it, MLB Pipeline released their Pipeline Prospects of the Year on October 16 and one player with ties to the Sooner State was named.

Oklahoma Sooners alum, Jimmy Crooks (’21-’22) was named as the St Louis Cardinals Hitting Prospect of the Year.

Crooks spent the entire season playing for Springfield in AA. In 90 games, Crooks batted .321 wiht 11 HR and 62 RBI. He also had an OBP% of .410 and SLG% of .498 (OPS .908). His .498 SLG% led the Texas League for players with a minimum of 350 plate appearances.

Crooks’ wRC+ (which takes the statistic Runs Created and adjusts that number to account for important external factors — like ballpark or era. It’s adjusted, so a wRC+ of 100 is league average and 150 would be 50 percent above league average.) was 156. No other player in the Texas League had a wRC+ higher than 140.

This award comes on the heels of Crooks being named the Texas League MVP for the 2024 season.

Prospect Ranking

Perhaps there is no better way to quantify how good Crooks’ season was than the jump he made in the Cardinals’ prospect rankings. At the end of last year, Crooks was the 15th highest rated prospect and 2nd highest Catcher in the Cardinals’ organization. As of the latest rankings, Crooks is now #5 and #1 respectively.

Background

Crooks played high school baseball at Trinity HS in Euless, TX. He spent the CVOID shortened 2020 season at McLennan College (JUCO) before joining the Sooners in 2021. He played two seasons behind the plate at OU and was one of the integral leaders on the 2022 National Runner Up team.

Crooks was drafted in the 4th round of the 2022 MLB Draft.

*Photo header via stltoday.com

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