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I quite enjoy stumbling into Cubs minor league signings on a Thursday morning in November. After all, what else is likely to top it for significance? Today was one of those days, as the Cubs signed 26-year-old Narciso Crook to a minor league deal.
Long time #Reds minor leaguer Narciso Crook is signed with the Chicago Cubs. He had been with the Reds since 2013 when he was drafted as a 17-year-old out of Rowan College of South Jersey.
— Doug Gray (@dougdirt24) November 18, 2021
Best handle on twitter - @ThatOutfielder . Also perhaps the nicest dude in baseball.
Crook was a 23rd Round pick in 2013 from the baseball factory known as Rowan College of South Jersey in Sewell, New Jersey. From Nagua, Dominican Republic, Crook took three seasons to get out of the-then Low-A Midwest League. He split time in both 2019 and 2021 between the Reds Double-A affiliates in Chattanooga and Louisville. In both seasons, he had an OPS of slightly over .800. With reasonable speed and reasonable power, he’s more of a corner guy than a center fielder. As his is a minor-league deal, you can look for him to spend time in either Iowa or Tennessee, lockout or not.
I enjoy players that have monikers that lead to puns, and the Cubs signing Crook leads rather easily to some punny headlines. That a person like Doug Gray, who knows the Reds system well, gives him positive marks on being an above-board human being makes the signing even easier to take. Meanwhile, we await more significant moves over the next eighteen hours or so that will include 40 man roster spots.
Welcome to the Cubs, Narciso.