On May 29, 2026 at 2:20pm CDT the St. Louis Cardinals made a multi-player roster move: they recalled catcher Jimmy Crooks to the big-league club, selected the contract of outfielder Nelson Velázquez and optioned infielder César Prieto and catcher Yohel Pozo to Triple‑A Memphis.
Crooks is the obvious reason his name is trending — he arrived from Triple‑A with a.262/.412/.567 line in 2026, production that pushed the club to bring him back to the majors on this date.
The mechanics of the shuffle are simple on paper. Pozo had managed a.242/.242/.273 line on the year and received just 33 plate appearances in more than two months on the roster; those numbers and lack of opportunities made him the logical odd man out. The club also added Velázquez, whose minor‑league line was.232/.344/.420 with a 101 wRC+ and whose big‑league track record sits at.212/.286/.433 and a 98 wRC+.
But the move does not resolve the team’s immediate lineup puzzle. Iván Herrera has been hitting.264/.390/.423 and, the Cardinals have been using him most days either behind the plate or as the designated hitter. With Herrera already earning those starts, the team recalled Crooks without spelling out whether he will play regularly, spell Herrera, or shift roles between catcher and DH.
That ambiguity matters for two reasons. First, Crooks was described within the organization as one of the club’s best prospects, and bringing him up changes the depth chart even if his at‑bats are limited. Second, the recall could squeeze playing time for Pedro Pagés, who has a.219/.262/.360 line on the year and had been part of a three‑catcher rotation alongside Herrera and Pozo. Optioning Pozo and keeping Herrera as the daily option leaves Pagés as the most likely candidate to see reduced work.
The sequence also reflects a recent vacancy on the 40‑man roster: a couple of weeks before May 29 a left‑hander was designated for assignment, creating the roster room the club needed to make these moves. Even with the paperwork complete, the club’s intent is not obvious from the transaction alone — swapping Crooks for Pozo does not inherently increase innings behind the plate if Herrera continues to get the lion’s share of starts.
What comes next is the single open question here: how will the Cardinals use Crooks once he’s on the active roster? The club has committed only to the roster move, not to a role. If Crooks receives regular starts, it reshapes the catching rotation and could push Pagés into a bench role; if he serves as a backup, the recall looks like depth insurance more than a promotion into everyday duty. The Cardinals gave a straightforward roster answer on May 29 — they did not give a playing‑time one — and that gap is the story going into the next series.
