Cardinals evaluating catching depth as Herrera fights for return to role
Replacing Yadier Molina was never going to be a simple proposition for the St. Louis Cardinals.
No matter how much warning they had, or how much redundancy they thought was built into their system, a decade and a half with a Hall of Fame player at one position is bound to leave turbulence in his wake—doubly so if that player controls such an outsized portion of what happens on the field, let alone within the rest of the organization.
Willson Contreras made a strong attempt, but within months was unfairly targeted by teammates, leading to inevitable upheaval. That instability persisted until his arm was broken and the decision was made to move him out from behind the plate.
The timing could have coincided with Iván Herrera’s ascendance, but in 2024 and 2025, he allowed 70 stolen bases while nabbing just four would-be base stealers.
That’s unsustainable by any measure, and Herrera is determined to prove that offseason elbow surgery will allow him to make the necessary corrections to reclaim his spot behind the plate.
That, however, is no guarantee, as prospects are ascending rapidly and may complicate the issue.
“I basically couldn’t straighten my elbow, so it’s hard to throw that way,” Herrera said, describing the sensation that led him to have bone chips and loose bodies surgically removed from his right arm at the conclusion of the season. “We talked to the doctors, and they said that once you lose an angle of 30 [degrees] in your arm, it’s so hard to throw the ball the right way.”
The central point of a rebuilding season is to take stock of a team’s in-house assets and abilities as a reference for future changes. Already one of the team’s most productive hitters—arm injury and all—it’s no secret the Cardinals believe they would be a much stronger team overall if Herrera can stick behind the plate. That combination of circumstances gives them time and games to experiment and prevents them from being limited to a small spring sample in ultimately determining his positional fate.
“I think it’s hard to evaluate strictly in spring,” manager Oli Marmol said. “When you think about what pitchers are doing in spring, they’re working on a specific pitch. You’re not game planning against a hitter, right? There’s certain things that we’ll be able to continue to address and improve upon during spring, but I think that’s a tough ask to strictly evaluate the days that we’re down in Jupiter.”
Marmol agreed that at some point, the dilemma with Herrera becomes a “roster question,” and, conveniently for him, the Cardinals do have some easy answers.
Even with the expectation of adding a veteran right-handed bat to the mix, there is likely room on the Opening Day roster for the Cardinals to carry three catchers. Leonardo Bernal and Josh Baez would have to exceed expectations to break camp with the big league club, César Prieto and Bryan Torres are depth options, and Lars Nootbaar seems increasingly likely to start the season on the injured list.
With Brendan Donovan still a part of the position-player group, Herrera, Pedro Pagés and Jimmy Crooks could all comfortably break camp with the team, especially if Crooks hits well enough to be a viable option at designated hitter from the left side.
That gives the Cardinals time to evaluate the results of Herrera’s offseason homework, assigned by the coaching staff led by catching coordinator Ethan Goforth, and determine whether his game-calling skills have improved enough that a few solid throws will get him right back on track.
“I talk to ‘GoGo’ every week,” Herrera said. “We’ve got some meetings, and then we talk about baseball stats and all of that … Now that I’m clean to throw, now’s when I start doing every part of receiving, blocking, every part of the game.”
Without an obvious solution on the roster for right-handed power in the outfield, and with last season’s brief, uneventful cameos for Herrera in left field, it’s fair to wonder whether the Cardinals are spinning their wheels by allowing a player to remain at a spot without a clear fit. Crooks is regarded as a strong staff manager, Pagés has universal respect among his teammates, and both Bernal and fast-rising teenager Rainiel Rodríguez are regarded as top-flight big league starting catchers.
For Herrera, though, there is pride in sticking at the only position he’s ever consistently known, and a clear desire to push back against the notion that he can’t handle the load. At the winter meetings, president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom noted that it’s difficult to ask players to shoulder the full burden of catching, and that Herrera’s obvious enthusiasm for the task was a strong factor in pursuing this path. If he wants to try—and he does—the Cardinals have the space to allow him to do so.
“I work hard,” Herrera said. “I came through the minor leagues being a catcher, just watching Yadier Molina do it over and over. That’s something I want to try to achieve, because the standard to be a catcher on this team is really high.”
He knows, at least, against whom he’ll be measured—whether it’s fair or not.
