hit man

Blaine Crim left Mississippi College this year as the program’s career hits leader. Five games into his pro career, he is still piling them up. After a 3-for-4 effort on Monday, Crim has 12 hits in 22 at-bats with three doubles and four RBIs. The Alabama native, who was the Gulf South Conference player of the year in 2019, had six hits in two games in the rookie Arizona League before making a quick jump to short season Class A Spokane in the Texas system. A right-handed hitting first baseman, Crim batted .373 with 11 home runs, 21 doubles and 56 RBIs as a senior at MC, where he was a four-year starter and led the team to the GSC championship in 2018. When the Rangers took him in the 19th round of the draft, Crim became just the second Choctaws player to be drafted, according to MC’s website. The first was pitcher Bo Edmiston in 2003. P.S. After a performance that he called “embarrassing,” Jonathan Holder has been demoted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre by the New York Yankees. Holder, a former Mississippi State standout from Gulfport, allowed five runs without retiring a batter in a relief appearance Monday night. His ERA has ballooned to 6.81 in 31 games. He has given up six homers and 13 runs in his last 5 1/3 innings. Ugh.