Cards call up No. 6 prospect Crooks, Prieto for MLB debuts

ST. LOUIS -- Two of the top performers all season for Triple-A Memphis, catcher Jimmy Crooks and infielder César Prieto, were promoted to the Cardinals on Friday and made their debuts in the club's 7-5, 10-inning win over the Reds at Great American Ball Park.

Crooks, 24 and the No. 6-ranked prospect in the Cardinals' Minor League system, per MLB Pipeline, replaces reserve catcher Yohel Pozo, who headed to the seven-day injured list with a concussion suffered in Thursday’s 4-1 win over the Pirates. Prieto, 26, will provide depth on the infield at third base and second.

Crooks caught the last two innings of the win in Cincinnati after replacing Pedro Pagés, who was pulled for pinch-runner José Fermín in the top of the ninth. Crooks did not have a plate appearance.

Prieto was called on to pinch-hit for Garrett Hampson with one out in the 10th and struck out against Reds reliever Tony Santillan. Prieto was in the DH spot and did not play in the field in the bottom of the inning.

Manager Oliver Marmol said both rookies are expected to make their first MLB starts on Sunday in the series finale in Cincinnati.

The Cardinals had room on their 40-man roster to add Crooks and Prieto, and they had space on the 26-man roster with Pozo going into MLB’s concussion protocol and Alec Burleson going on the 10-day IL with right wrist pain. Burleson had an injection in the wrist to assist with the inflammation, and after letting it settle down for 48 hours, the team will reassess the injury.

Crooks, the Cardinals' Minor League Player of the Year in 2024 when he starred for Double-A Springfield, adjusted well to Triple-A baseball. In 98 games, he slashed .274/.337/.441 with a .778 OPS, 21 doubles, 14 home runs and 79 RBIs. With more power have come more strikeouts, as he has whiffed 114 times compared to just 36 walks.

A fourth-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft out of the University of Oklahoma, Crooks excites the Cardinals with his ability to handle pitchers, call games and control the running game. He threw out 32.8 percent of would-be basestealers at Springfield in 2024, and he erased 29.4 percent this season in Memphis.

Prieto, who was acquired by the Cardinals in the Aug. 1, 2023, trade with the Orioles that involved pitcher Jack Flaherty, made headlines in May 2021 when he defected from his native Cuba by sprinting from a hotel in West Palm Beach -- where the Cuban National Baseball Team was staying before an Olympic qualifying tournament -- to a waiting van that helped him escape. He recounted that story to MLB.com earlier this year and said that he has not seen his family in person since defecting.

“It was super hard to make that decision [to defect], but at the time I knew it was the right thing to do because I was doing it for something really good in my future,” Prieto told MLB.com via translator Kleininger Teran. “I feel lucky to have this opportunity to come to America and play baseball here, and I want to make the most of it.”

Prieto, who spent four season in the Minor Leagues, slashed .295/.359/.448 in 2025, with 29 doubles, three triples, nine home runs and 62 RBIs in 107 games for Memphis. Defensively, he’s played 23 games at second base (three errors), 41 games at third base (two errors) and 39 games at shortstop (four errors).

As of now, the Cardinals have no plans of promoting infielder JJ Wetherholt -- the franchise’s No. 1-ranked prospect and the No. 6-ranked Minor Leaguer, per MLB Pipeline, despite his rousing success at Triple-A after being promoted from Double-A on July 7. The No. 7 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft has slashed .331/.411/.625 with 11 doubles, nine home runs, 21 RBIs and seven stolen bases in eight tries in 34 games with Memphis.