Longtime Rangers farmhand Crim never saw his MLB debut coming

This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry's Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ARLINGTON -- Blaine Crim never figured he would be a big leaguer. Sure, every player wants it to happen, dreams of it happening. But Crim made peace with his position long ago, happy to ride out whatever he could for as long as he could.

The Mobile, Ala., native attended Division II Mississippi College and was selected by the Rangers in the 19th round of the 2019 MLB Draft. Despite hitting at every level of the Minors, he was never considered one of the organization’s top prospects.

He’s been relatively underrated his entire career, so much so that when he was told he was getting called up on Friday, he didn’t even know how to process it. But he finally ended up making his MLB debut on Friday night, batting eighth against the Mariners at Globe Life Field.

“The dream of and the reality of playing at this level, I think, has been gone for 15 years for me,” Crim said. “I don't know my thought process behind it. I think I was just playing just to have fun. It was cool to say I was a professional baseball player. There were always glimpses of hope, but I never really thought that I would be right here in this moment.

“I don't know if I ever truly believed it. I really don't. I know my family and my wife did, for sure. I can't say I necessarily did. I'm confident in myself. I feel like I can do it. It's just that I never really thought it actually would happen. So it's just been, it was just a weird, weird journey.”

Crim said his coaches and teammates at Triple-A Round Rock surprised him with the announcement of his callup during pregame warmups on Thursday.

“It was a cool moment with all the guys. It was really cool,” Crim said. “They were trying to keep their cool. I knew something was off, but I didn't know that was why they were being weird. I thought they were just being weird to be weird. So it was crazy. There were a lot of tears. Seeing some of my buddies cry was kind of crazy. I had plenty of tears rolling, too. It was surreal. It was great.”

Crim said he then had to drive through the “worst weather of his life” to get to Arlington for Friday night’s matchup against Seattle.

His parents, who were set to go on vacation, promptly turned around as soon as they made it to Destin, Fla., and drove the 11 hours to the Metroplex. Even Crim’s wife, Katie -- who is the head soccer coach at North Greenville University in South Carolina -- had to cancel exit interviews with her players to hop on a flight into DFW.

A surreal 48 hours came to a peak when Crim stepped on the field at first base.

Crim, 27, has raked at every level of the Minors, hitting .296 with an .879 OPS across six seasons. With Round Rock this season, he’s slashing .313/.365/.565 with seven homers.

But as an older college draftee from a DII school, he went under the radar initially. As a right-handed first baseman, Crim has always recognized that the bar is a little higher, especially for somebody his size and stature (5-foot-10, 200 pounds) at the position.

Then, even as he hit his way through the system, the Rangers have had Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Award-winning first baseman Nathaniel Lowe holding down the position.

When Texas traded for Jake Burger this offseason, it appeared that Crim's path would continue to be blocked for the foreseeable future. But with Burger's early struggles this season, and Crim's continued success, it created a perfect storm that even Crim never expected.

“With every player, they determine their destiny by performing, and Blaine has continued to do that,” president of baseball operations Chris Young said. “He's such a great person, a great guy, a winning spirit and a fighter. He plays with edge. He really is everything that I love in a player, everything we want in this organization. We're really excited for him to have this opportunity. He earned it.”