5/13 GDT: Cardinals(Liberatore) @ Athletics(Ginn) 8:40 PM CT

[CardsofSTL]

Pop up drops in the outfield and Fermin is on base.

[CardsofSTL]

JJ reaches on an HBP that was also ball 4. Cardinals have runners on 1st and 2nd for Ivan.

[CardsofSTL]

Down to Burly

[CardsofSTL]

Burly strikes out to end it.

Lack of execution early in the game and some poor pitching sank this one. Have a day game tomorrow to go for a series win.

[phins]

What's the knock on Jimmy Crooks?

Contact. He struggles to make contact in a hitters league that artificially inflates offense.

Long swing, contact % barely over 70% at AAA. I don't actually he will hit at the big league level. He will be a glove first guy who runs into some HR's but K a ton, and chase more than you'd think based on his BB % at AAA. His K% has actually gone UP this year as he runs an OBP reliant on walks that I do not believe will really be there at the big league level to the same degree.

If he's going to be a 40% K% guy at the MLB level he's going to need to mash mistakes and be a great defensive guy to make it.

Makes sense, hear about him as a glove first guy and you look at his bref page and he kinda rakes. You see some nonsense walk rates in the PCL on both sides of the ball. edit- or whatever league they're in now

But wouldn't this still be more than what Pages brings to the table?

Yes, of course. I was intending to share the downside on Crooks only there.

His contact quality is excellent. So when he does make contact, he crushes it. Not to same degree as Walker, but similar archetype of contact quality.

Pages is a third catcher to my eyes.