Coming away from the St. Louis Cardinals Winter Warm-Up event, there was plenty of buzz among fans about how excited they are to see the young guns get their opportunity to light up Busch Stadium. Even in a season that is sure to be full of growing pains, Cardinals Nation is ready for Spring Training to start so we can get a glimpse at the future of St. Louis.
While Chaim Bloom has provided some clarity on the roster by dealing veterans Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, and Nolan Arenado, other spots on the team are still unsettled a month before Spring Training. Brendan Donovan remains on the team and his trade picture is still cloudy, Lars Nootbaar does not have a rehab update but is hopeful to grab hold of the left field spot, and Ivan Herrera is expected to be the near-everyday catcher. Surprising to me, at least, was the fact that Herrera announced he had not yet been 100% cleared to throw or hit as of Winter Warm-Up, so his participation in Spring Training and the World Baseball Classic for Team Panama is unclear.
The Cardinals appear ready to stand pat with their current catching set up
There was positivity around Herrera, though, with manager Oli Marmol crediting the catcher’s throwing struggles to the arm injury and Herrera himself sharing his excitement to catch because that was he was brought in to do. Without knowing how far back he was having these arm troubles, it may be too much to suggest that the surgery is going to completely overhaul his command of the running game. His best defensive season came in 2019 in Single-A when he 24 runners stealing, but also had 10 passed balls that season.
Since then, he has kept the ball in front of him better, but he has not had a caught stealing percentage above 25% at any level. Through his major league career behind the dish, Herrera has thrown out a total of six baserunners out of 75 attempts.
Before I get harassed for being too down on Herrera, I am in 100% agreement that he should be the near-everyday catcher next season, grabbing 3-4 starts a week as long as his body can handle it. His value to the team may be highest there, especially if his throwing does improve. Herrera was named a Top 100 player in all of baseball, and that was without a position. If he can solidify the position for 90-100 games and handle the pitching staff, there is little reason to believe he would not be a front runner for the NL Silver Slugger Award as a catcher.
In the scenario that Herrera gets banged up or continues to struggle behind the plate, Pedro Pages has shown he is more than capable to handle a pitching staff as far as receiving and calling a game go. Outside of an otherworldly month of August, Pages’ performance at the plate left plenty to be desired for a team that may continue to struggle offensively this season. Besides his ridiculous 202 wRC+ during August, Pages never had another month above 82, averaging out at an abysmal 49 wRC+, thanks to a July where he put up a -19 value.
For his ability to support pitchers on the base paths, Pages has a career 30.8% caught stealing rate as he improved significantly from his rookie season in 2024. Mix in his ability to play second base (/s), and Pages’ role as a major league backup catcher, with a few extended starting opportunities mixed in, can be solidified for the length of his career.
Providing an unknown level of support to the major league roster is fan favorite Yohel Pozo, who received plenty of fan outcry when the team made what I thought to be an easy choice to non-tender the catcher. He was quickly re-signed on a split major league deal that still provides him with a 40-man roster spot, so his movement throughout the organization is one to keep an eye on as the rest of the catching situation takes shape. Pozo showed value as a clutch bat off the bench, but the 28-year-old may not have much a future in St. Louis beyond settling for that role. For what it is worth, Pozo was aware and accepting of that reality as he re-signed due to enjoying his time playing for the organization that gave him another shot.
The youngster excitement continues behind Pozo, with the Cardinals having multiple catchers falling among the game’s top prospects. Because of the hype surrounding Jimmy Crooks, Leonardo Bernal, and Rainiel Rodriguez, it seemed that the Cardinals could have used this offseason to dangle those prospects in trade talks in an effort to fortify the major league roster. Being years away from contention, though, likely figured into Chaim Bloom’s decision to hold onto all six catchers for now.
This is the best strategy at the current time, in my opinion. Even though there appears to be depth, there are plenty of big question marks around the future of the position. The news that Yadier Molina will be returning to the organization full-time could do wonders to help settle these concerns, but there is no harm in continuing to develop each of Crooks, Bernal, and Rodriguez at their own pace.
If there were a move to be made, I would personally see what Pages could receive on the trade market and use that space as an opportunity to create a mini major league platoon with Herrera and Crooks. Crooks, a left-handed hitter, has been praised for his defense, so he could supplant Pages in a backup role while continuing to get his feet wet at the big league level. The risk level, to me, is low in this type of move, albeit being made earlier than needed. Pages has not shown the offensive potential that would worry Cardinals fans about a post-St. Louis resurgence, but he is definitely a capable big league backstop. With minor league Gold Glove winner Leonardo Bernal progressing through the minors, there is the upper level support if things were to get ugly.
Bernal was pushed into MLB Pipeline’s top-100 prospects, checking in at #98, although Baseball America left the switch hitter off of their 2026 list. FanGraphs was even higher on Bernal, with the Panamanian skyrocketing up to #40 on the outlet’s 2025 updated rankings. That wide range of outcomes narrowed greatly when looking at 19-year-old Rainiel Rodriguez.
All three of those outlets have Rodriguez in the top 100 across the league, with MLB ranking him 37th, Baseball America having him 35th, and FanGraphs plugging him in at #71. As an 18-year-old Rodriguez made a name for himself in A-ball with a .276 batting average a .954 OPS across 84 games. He swatted a total of 20 homers and struck out nearly as often as he walked in his second professional season. The bat is Rodriguez’ most exciting tool, although he has shown enough to forecast him to stick as a catcher long-term.
With pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training in less than a month, we are surely to receive rave reviews about each of these six catchers. Because of how young the entire roster, but especially the pitching staff, is, how the catchers handle the arms could mean more than it would in a rotation full of veterans. Since they figure to be around for the long haul, there will be plenty of time for both pitchers and catchers to have a hand in the development of the next era of Cardinals baseball.
