Cardinals Double-A affiliate awarded Texas League MVP and best pitcher for 2024

For all of the talk about how much the St. Louis Cardinals have struggled to develop their own talent in recent years, their farm system is receiving quite a bit of praise in recent days.

Yesterday, Baseball America named Quinn Mathews as their Minor League Pitcher of the Year for 2024. That same afternoon, his Double-A teammate, Tink Hence, was named the 2024 Texas League Pitcher of the Year, and catcher Jimmy Crooks was named the 2024 Texas League Most Valuable Player. If all of that wasn't exciting enough, Springfield manager Jose Leger was also named the 2024 Texas League Manager of the Year.

The headliner of this to me has to be Hence, who joins Mathews in being two of the most exciting pitching prospects in all of baseball and will both likely make their debuts for St. Louis next year. Hence struggled with injuries in 2024 and has some real durability and endurance questions, but his 109 strikeouts in 79.2 innings showed how his elite stuff can take him places in this game. Hence finished the year with a 2.71 ERA in 20 starts while posting a 1.07 WHIP in the process.

The Cardinals have long needed an infusion of young pitching in their rotation, and both Mathews and Hence represent high-end talent that is close to breaking through. I would expect Mathews to be in the rotation by early 2025, but Hence may take a bit more time since he has not thrown a pitch at the Triple-A level yet.

Crooks is another catcher in the Cardinals organization who is showing major promise in his young career. While much of the attention from fans is on Ivan Herrea and Pedro Pages, Crooks slashed .321/.410/.468 with 11 home runs and 62 RBI in just 315 at-bats this year. What should be even more encouraging to Cardinals fans is that his ability behind the plate seems to be his calling card, as he's above average as a receiver and blocker behind the plate and threw out 24% of attempted base stealers this year.

Crooks joins a long list of recent Cardinals prospects who won Texas League Most Valuable Player in recent seasons: Thomas Saggese (2023), Moises Gomez (2022), and Dylan Carlson (2019).

With Ivan Herrera being out of options going into 2025 and Pages really cementing himself as their backup catcher, I could easily see St. Louis moving Herrera in a deal this offseason, clearing a path for Crooks to be the next man up in Memphis if needed.

Jose Legar is now the first Texas League Manager of the Year in Springfield Cardinals history., setting a franchise record of 79 wins during the season. He is now second all-time in Springfield history is managerial wins.

Other Springfield Cardinals receiving end-of-season awards include Mathews, who was named a Texas League All-Star, and reliever Matt Svanson, who received the same honor as well.