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St. Louis Cardinals’ MLB Draft Preview: Catcher, a Position of Interest
The St. Louis Cardinals have one of the best catchers of all time on their team. However, as we have mentioned several times, it is getting near that time to replace that catcher.
The St. Louis Cardinals have been lucky when it comes to catchers over the course of their franchise. They had Mike Matheny before Yadier Molina, guys like Ted Simmons and Joe Torre before them. Not to mention they had the likes of Tim McCarver and Darrel Porter as well.
However, Molina definitely stands out as the best out of all of them. I don’t need to go into detail in the numbers, as you saw those when we did our historical series during the winter. However, age is catching up to Molina and fast.
He’s had two thumb surgeries the past two seasons and has missed time towards the end of the past two seasons. He’s under contract for a couple more seasons, and the Cardinals are already grooming his replacement in Carson Kelly.
Last season, the Cardinals picked up a couple catchers in the later rounds of the draft, but did not find a value in one in the higher rounds. With a total of four picks in the first two rounds of the draft, that could change this year as the club looks to maybe have a backup plan in case Kelly doesn’t pan out.
So, what catchers are available that could be a good pick for the Cardinals? Let’s have a look.
Next: Chris Okey