return to form
At the end of June, Blaine Crim — a .290 career hitter in the minors — was batting .215 for the Round Rock Express, Texas’ Triple-A club. Suddenly, when the calendar flipped to July, he went off. The ex-Mississippi College star hit safely in 18 of his next 19 games and finished with a .453 average for the month. He hasn’t cooled off much in August. A 3-for-5 game on Tuesday that included his 13th home run boosted his average for the month to .328 (with four bombs) and for the season to .272. Crim was the Gulf South Conference’s hitter of the year in 2019, when he was drafted by Texas, and has been raking for much of his five-year minor league career. He batted .289 with 22 homers at Round Rock in 2023. The 27-year-old first baseman/DH has 96 homers in pro ball. Crim isn’t on the 40-man roster, so his chances of a call from the Rangers are probably slim. Teammate Justin Foscue, who has also had a hot August (.339, three homers), is on the 40-man and already has had a couple of MLB stints this season. With the Rangers fading from postseason contention, Mississippi State alum Foscue, their No. 7 prospect, may well get an extended look in September. In the meantime, the Mississippi products make for quite the tag team at Round Rock. P.S. Former Southern Miss standout Tyler Stuart is scheduled to make his Triple-A debut tonight for Rochester in the Washington system. The 6-foot-9 Stuart, a third-year-pro, had a 2.08 ERA in four starts in Double-A after the Nationals acquired him at the trade deadline from the New York Mets.