The St. Louis Cardinals received a welcomed boost to an already humming offense when Ivan Herrera returned from the injured list a little more than a month after suffering a bone bruise while running the bases. The Cardinals’ main backstop at the time was one of the best hitters in the majors, hitting four home runs and recording a 1.506 OPS in just six games, so the timing of Herrera’s first injury could not have been worse.
Even though Pedro Pages was the more capable defensive catcher, Herrera appeared to be sharing the majority of playing time with Pages in a catching tandem while the season was still young. In his little time behind the dish this season, Herrera had not thrown out any of the seven basestealers, so that continued to be the case. When he went down, Pages slipped into the starter job and has met the call by throwing out an above-average 32% of runners, including being the first catcher to catch Oneil Cruz stealing this season.Offensively, Pages is not the hitter that Herrera is, but he’s held his own in a decent Cardinal offense, batting .245 with 14 RBIs, which is enough for an 88 OPS+, below average but good enough for a defense-first catcher.
Before his call-up, I was the first to point out that Luken Baker had been optioned down to Memphis instead of catcher Yohel Pozo, meaning the Cardinals would be keeping three catchers on the active roster, indicating that the team either wanted to ease Herrera back into game action or did not trust his skills behind the plate. Herrera continued to mash Triple-A pitching as he neared a return from the injured list, demonstrating that he was ready to be thrown right into the lineup.
When asked about Herrera’s return behind the plate, manager Oli Marmol simply said “he will catch.”
On a recent edition of Cardinal Territory with Katie Woo, she brought up having a chat with Marmol about if Herrera will receive any time behind the plate after playing in two games as the DH since his return. Herrera has drawn a walk and had two hits, including a two-run double, since being activated. He has faced lefty starters in every game he has participated in, and game one against lefty Cristopher Sanchez in Philadelphia was no exception.
Pages was given the day off behind the plate in the series finale against Washington, but Pozo was called up to start at catcher instead. Woo stated on the show that she questioned Marmol about if there was any strategy to get Herrera back in the catcher’s gear. She stated, “We did ask Marmol today if Herrera was going to catch, and he said yes, and then I said when, and he said he will catch.” Marmol’s response was more of a non-answer, leaving a lot of room for conjecture.
Even if Herrera’s knee wasn’t ready to play catcher again, the Cardinals could have needed an offensive boost, which is why he was activated. Herrera had some pain early in his ramp-up, but he did catch during his rehab assignment with Memphis. Herrera may start seeing more time behind the plate if Pozo is judged completely healthy and sent back down to Triple-A. Herrera being the DH option, mostly against lefty pitchers, and seeing little time as the catcher when Pages needs a day off is the alternative, and maybe more likely, scenario.
