Blaine Crim
The offense needs a spark, so the Rangers are calling up an almost-28-year-old AAA first baseman in his minor league walk year.
Wait. What?
Texas drafted Blaine Crim in 2019ās 19th round from Mississippi College. He signed for the princely sum of $5,000. Across six seasons, Crim has batted .296/.372/.507, and heās never endured a season-long slump. His worst batting average is .277, worst OBP .357, worst slug .469. Heās been remarkably consistent and healthy.
Heās hit 49 homers in 295 AAA games across 2023-2025 (about 19 per 500 PA), plus a combined 78 doubles and triples. His walk/HBP rate is an impressive 13%, and he doesnāt strike out that much (18%).
His swing tends to lean more towards liners than towering flies, and his contact is stout and true. In 2025, he sports a 52% hard-hit rate (league average is 39%), a median exit velocity of 95.9 (league 90.0), and a 90th-percentile exit of 107.9 (league 104.0). Heās prone to neither popups nor excessive grounders. This season, heās hitting .313/.365/.515, and in looking at the balls in play Iām not seeing weirdly lucky results like I found with JP Martinez a couple of years ago. His line seems honest, at least as honest as any line in the Pacific Coast League can be. He has a pronounced reverse split so far, but on the whole Iād say his platoons are close to normal. He tends to whiff more than average against breakers and changes, but that’s offset by a good take rate against the out-of-zone versions and solid results on contact.
So, why hasnāt he been promoted before now? Ultimately, Iād have to say because the decision-makers (both in Arlington and around the Majors) have never quite reached the point at which theyāve felt compelled to make a move. Iāve sometimes talked about a player forcing managementās hand. Crim just isnāt quite that type. He has always been very good, but kind of quietly so. He doesnāt really impart a ābest player on the fieldā vibe, although Iāve attended many a game where Iāve marveled at how perpetually locked in he is compared to most of his teammates and opposition. He has some flaws, namely a lack of positional flexibility and a listed height of 5ā10ā.
We can analyze and hypothesize all day, but as Iāve said before, we can learn a great deal from the (in)actions of the teams. Obviously, he hadnāt reached the Majors before today. Crim has been a potential 40 addition since the fall of 2022 but never protected. Heās been available in three Rule 5 drafts but never taken. Last December via two trades, the Rangers swapped a starting 1B with two years of control for one with four years of control. He wasnāt the prize or a pot sweetener in trades for Jordan Montgomery, Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Chafin, Carson Kelly, etc.
A recent Baseball America piece discussed the decline of lefty-throwing position players, including at first, adding: āMajor league first basemen are more likely to throw righthanded today than they were a decade agoā¦ First basemen also are shorter on average than they used to beā¦ A greater number of sub-6-foot players are playing first base today.ā
All true, but a good many of those players are shy of six feet by one inch, while Crim is listed at 5ā10ā. A negligible difference to most of us, perhaps, but in terms of getting an opportunity in the first place, itās huge. Crim also bats exclusively right-handed. And although Crim has moonlighted at third over his pro career, heās essentially an adequate defensive 1B, and the likelihood of him playing the hot corner in the Majors is remote.
I queried Baseball Referenceās Stathead service for players and seasons meeting these criteria since 1920: 1) listed height 5ā10ā or below, 2) bats right-handed only, 3) played at least 75% of games at 1B, 4) played no other positions (except DH), 4) minimum 20 PA.
Andrew Vaughn, 2023-2025
Steve Garvey, 1974-1987
Chuck Harrison, 1965-1969, 1971
Lew Fonseca, 1929, 1933
Stuffy McInnis, 1920-1926
Dutch Schliebner, 1923
Thatās it. Crim is up against over a century of animosity toward his type of player, and while analytics have changed the game radically, baseball is still a sport steeped in inertia. Plus, this positional selection begins far earlier than the upper minors. If you see an adolescent below six feet, youāre looking for where he can play other than first.
In terms of Texas minor league history, the analogs for Crim that come to mind are catcher Brett Nicholas and OF Jared Hoying. Both were minor league lifers awaiting free agency in 2016, and both would be called up to assist a contending club, not after roster expansion but in the early part of the season. Nicholas was later traded for some low-level relief prospect named Emmanuel Clase, while Hoying parlayed his call-up into three seasons in Korea.
Someone on social media asked if I thought Crim could hit MLB pitching. If I knew with certainty, I wouldnāt have placed this paragraph down at the bottom, plus my involvement in baseball would be more intense than blogging as a side gig. I donāt know. Iāve seen so, so many guys smash AAA pitching in hitter-friendly parks, only to be overwhelmed in the Majors. The history of hitters who debut at Age 27 isnāt great. Mostly, they have their moments but canāt hang on.
I do know with certainty that Crim deserves this chance.
AAA: Round Rock 0, at Sugar Land (HOU) 3
Round Rock: 3 hits, 2 walks, 13 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 6 walks, 7 strikeouts
Record: 15-15, 6 GB
SP Gerson Garabito: 3.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 4 SO, 60 P / 36 S, 9.00 ERA
RP Cole Winn: 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 1 SO, 0.00 ERA
A despondent Crim-less Express mustered only three singles, two by Zeke Duran.
Texas signed catcher Kale Emshoff and assigned him to Round Rock. The 27-year-old had signed with the Royals as an undrafted free agent in 2020 and was released just four days ago.
AA: Frisco 2, Wichita (MIN) 5
Frisco: 6 hits, 1 walk, 13 strikeouts
Opponent: 10 hits, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts
Record: 14-10, 1 G up
SP Josh Stephan: 3 IP, 7 H (4 HR), 5 R, 1 BB, 0 SO, 69 P / 42 S, 7.00 ERA
RP Ryan Lobus: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 3.52 ERA
RP Janser Lara: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 4.50 ERA
C Ian Moller: 1-3, BB, .231/.375/.346
Four of Josh Stephan’s first 11 opponents went deep. He’s always been slightly homer-prone but not scarily so. 28-year-old Janser Lara originally signed with KC in 2015, didn’t pitch after 2018 and was released in 2020. Over four years later, the Rangers signed him and placed him two levels higher than any previous, and he’s been fine.
Hi-A: Hub City 1, @Rome (ATL) 0
Hub City: 3 hits, 0 walks, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 3 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 14-10, 1 G up
SP Kolton Curtis: 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 SO, 66 P / 39 S, 2.70 ERA
RP Adonis Villavicencio: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 3.60 ERA
RP Josh Trentadue: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO, 0.60 ERA
RF Keith Jones II: 2-4, .273/.442/.409
Hub City engineered a second straight 1-0 victory at Rome. C Julian Brock doubled to start the 6th, advanced on a flyout and scored despite a drawn-in infield on a Theo Hardy grounder.
Lo-A: Hickory 4, at Columbia (KAN) 5
Hickory: 7 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 7 hits, 2 walks, 9 strikeouts
Record: 11-13, 5 GB
SP Caden Scarborough: 3.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 6 SO, 63 P / 45 S, 4.42 ERA
1B Maxton Martin: 1-3, 3B, BB, .297/.323/.462
C Ben Hartl: 2-4, 3B, .200/.351/.267
SS Chandler Pollard: 2-4, 2 SB (13), .345/.415/.379
Hickory led 4-3 in the 9th, but a triple to center over Jose De Jesus’s head, a walk and double to LF Maxton Martin plated the tying and winning runs for the Fireflies.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Houser
AA: Anderson
Hi-A: Davalillo
Lo-A: Molina