After back-to-back seasons that came to an end in May, the 2018 season was a healthy one for the first time in three years for Narciso Crook. Finally able to stay on the field he put together his best season as a professional, hitting .266/.344/.415 across three levels – ending his year in Double-A for the second half.
When the 2019 season began the Reds sent Narciso Crook to Double-A to play with the new affiliate in Chattanooga. Things didn’t exactly start out well, though. Through the first nine games of the season he had just two hits. But over the final week of the month he started heating up, going 8-25 (.320) with three extra-base hits. The slow start led to a .233/.298/.349 line in his 47 plate appearances on the month.
May started out with a slump, but Triple-A was in need of an outfielder and after the first week Crook was promoted to Louisville. He only saw part-time action – getting into 11 games, but only having 29 plate appearances in two-and-a-half weeks. The outfielder took advantage of the time he did get, though, going 8-26 (.308) before the month ended. In the 44 plate appearances he had he hit .275/.341/.450.
The first week of June was a bit slow for Narciso Crook, who only got one start in Louisville and had three pinch-hit appearances. He then went back to Double-A for two days, going 3-5 before heading back to Triple-A Louisville. In that week with Louisville he went 3-14 before heading back to Chattanooga for two games. With the Lookouts he went 5-9 with two doubles before heading back to join the Bats. This time it was for good. And Crook took advantage of his time back with Louisville, hitting .407 in the last nine games of the month. Despite the back-and-forth, the outfielder hit .371/.400/.565 on the month with seven extra-base hits in 65 plate appearances.
That hot hitting didn’t quite carry forward immediately in July. Over the first week he hit just .240. But the last three weeks of the month saw Narciso Crook go on an absolute tear for the Bats. He went 27-71 (.380) with 16 extra-base hits – including six of them in the last four games of the month. In what was likely the best month of his entire career, Crook hit .344/.406/.719 during July while also stealing four bases.
With as well as Narciso Crook had been hitting over the previous two months, August got out to a very tough start. In the first 12 games he played during the month he went 6-45 (.133) with just one walk and 17 strikeouts. Things did get a little better from there, but it was still a struggle over the final 15 games as he hit just .217 and had another 18 strikeouts in 60 at-bats. In the final 27 games the outfielder hit just .181/.232/.257 with 35 strikeouts and just four walks in 112 plate appearances.
For all 2019 Season Reviews and Scouting Reports – click here (these will come out during the week throughout the offseason).
Narciso Crook Spray Chart
Narciso Crook Scouting Report
Position: OF | B/T: R/R
Height: 6′ 3″ | Weight: 220 lb | Drafted: 23rd round, 2013 Draft
Born: July 12, 1995
Hitting | The hit tool is below-average.
Power | In 2019 we began to see the raw power turn into game power. His power is at least average, with slightly above-average raw power in there.
Speed | He has average to slightly above-average speed.
Defense | These days he’s a quality corner outfielder. He can cover center in a pinch.
Arm | His arm is slightly below-average.
The slump over the final month took his line from .320/.374/.568 on the year to .277/.332/.474 by the time that the season came to an end. Even with that slump to end the year, it was the best season that Narciso Crook has had as a professional. Back-to-back healthy seasons has gotten the outfielder the reps he’s needed after missing nearly two full seasons in a row and you’ve seen the improvements at the plate.
Narciso Crook has solid tools. He’ll likely need to improve his plate discipline/pitch recognition a little bit moving forward – either to cut down on the strikeouts, or walk a little more frequently than he currently does – but there’s a 4th/5th outfielder profile there if he continues to develop. The defense, speed, and pop will work. Getting a little more out of the average/on-base areas with improved pitch recognition/plate approach will be key.
He’ll head back to Triple-A at the start of 2020 as a 24-year-old and more than half of the season will be played at that age. After 2019 where the power started to play more – even though the baseball was a bit juiced in Triple-A, he was still a better than league average bat in the International League at 23/24-years-old, keep an eye on that next step at the plate.
Longest Home Run of the Year
449 Feet on July 5th.
Interesting Stat on Narciso Crook
He hit right-handed pitching much better than left-handed pitching in 2019. He posted a .303/.349/.510 line against righties, but hit just .219/.293/.390 against lefties. Other fun stat: He hit three home runs over 430 feet during the 2019 season.
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