Cardinals' big-league catchers played role in prospect Jimmy Crooks' defensive strides

During his first two spring trainings since turning pro, Cardinals catching prospect Jimmy Crooks found himself working with two different setups while behind the plate.

Crooks, a 2022 fourth-round draft pick from the University of Oklahoma, explained that he wanted the two stances behind the plate to “feel comfortable with one another.” However, that process changed last spring following a conversation with Cardinals catchers Willson Contreras, Pedro Pages and Ivan Herrera.

The work with the Cardinals’ big-league catching core led the 23-year-old Crooks to stick with a one-knee setup down as opposed to a more “traditional” catching style with both feed planted in the dirt.

“They were really big on the one knee down emphasis because it helps with receiving (and) helps with blocking and a little bit with the footwork,” Crooks said during a Zoom interview this offseason. “It was pretty key to kind of pick all their brains of what I need to do behind the plate to where I can have some success.”

With the one-knee down approach, Crooks maintained a .996 fielding percentage and allowed seven passed balls in 81 games behind the plate in the minor leagues this year with Class AA Springfield. When it came to slowing opposing teams on the base paths, the 23-year-old threw out the runner on 25 of the 76 stolen base attempts against him for a 33% caught stealing percentage — his highest caught stealing percentage in a minor-league season since he debuted in 2022.

The steady defense complemented a season in which Crooks batted .321 and posted a .908 on-base plus slugging percentage — the latter being the highest for a Cardinals prospect with 350 or more plate appearances and fifth-highest for a catcher across the minors who met the same plate appearance qualifications.

He was named Cardinals minor league player of the year and Texas League MVP for the breakout campaign.

“It was a good thing for me,” Crooks said of the defensive adjustments. “It helped me in blocking tremendously, which I think was my weak point last year. But this year it was a lot better. Receiving everything was a lot better too.”

Crooks believes his strengths as a catcher have come in calling games, receiving pitches and throwing runners out. He realized the potential in his throwing arm, which is graded a 55 on a scale of 80 by Baseball America, while at Oklahoma and found a way to maximize it with the shift in set ups.

He recalls the emphasis of the one-knee down setups during his time in big league spring training, at which he was a nonroster invitee for a second consecutive year.

Crooks felt he learned “a lot” on the shift to catching with one-knee down from Contreras, notably with how that could aid Crooks, who is an above-average frame, per Baseball America, to “steal strikes as much as I can.” He described the process to shift approaches as a “a little complicated,” but with time, he felt he “figured it out.”

“This year, not many people ran on me, and when they did, they were out sometimes not to be too cocky,” Crooks said.

“That’s pretty much been my strong suit. It’s just more of the footwork and being more accurate that I really worked on this year to where I can throw it anywhere and be pretty accurate.”

After getting charged with nine errors in 783⅔ innings from behind the plate in 2023 while in Class High-A, Crooks was charged with three errors in 638 innings in Class AA this year.

“I know picking their brains with the one knee down stuff helped a lot,” Crooks said. “Because, like I said, it helped me steal strikes and helped me with my footwork a little bit and blocking.”

The 2024 success positioned Crooks, an Arizona Fall League invitee in 2023, as the Cardinals’ top catching prospect heading into 2025. He headlines a catching prospect pipeline that includes 20-year-old Leonardo Bernal, who reached Class AA and played in the Arizona Fall League this year, 2024 fourth-round draft pick Ryan Campos, 17-year-old Dominican Summer League standout Rainiel Rodriguez and 20-year-old Sammy Hernandez.

As the top catching prospect in the Cardinals’ system, Crooks is slated to become the primary catcher for Class AAA Memphis where he would be a step away from the majors following a year with overall strides and some help from the organization’s big-league catching group.

“I’m going to try to pick their brains as much as I can, because they’re playing at the highest level,” Crooks said of his work with Contreras, Pages and Herrera.

“We really worked on it all throughout the spring training. It was new to me, and I’m pretty sure it’s new to all the other guys too, but they really helped me a lot, and helped me stay focused on that because, like I said, it made it easier on my legs and my body and everything.”