5 players the St. Louis Cardinals did dirty during the 2024 season

Ivan Herrera

Arguably the most misused and mistreated Cardinal in 2024, Ivan Herrera was excellent at the plate for St. Louis this past season, but like Contreras the year prior, the Cardinals let his failures behind the plate totally cloud their judgment regarding the impact he can have on the team.

Despite being given just 259 plate appearances in 2024, Herrera ranked first on the club in batting average (.301) and xwOBA (.369), second in both wRC+ (127), OBP (.372) and SLG (.428), fifth in WAR (2.1). Herrera was easily their second-best position player outside of Willson Contreras...and yet they went with Pedro Pages over him? I still do not understand how that was the case.

It was one thing when Contreras was healthy for the Cardinals to want a defensive first backup catcher, but for them not to see how Herrera's bat needed to be in the lineup every day, even if that just meant as their DH, is beyond me. The Cardinals lineup was massively disappointing this year, so deliberately casting aside your second-best bat and giving him the tenth-most plate appearances on the team is malpractice.

On top of that, Katie Woo of The Athletic (subscription required) pointed out in her incredible deep dive regarding the Cardinals' failures in player development that the club has not had a catching coordinator in their organization, a role that most MLB teams have and would have directly worked with Ivan Herrera over the last few years to develop defensively. Sure, the club was hoping Yadier Molina would help with that this year, but it does not excuse years of neglect that the organization has shown toward their young players, especially Herrera.

Instead, they had Herrera riding the bench in St. Louis far too often or stuck in Memphis, decisions that just cannot be defended. Hopefully, Chaim Bloom can see through the Cardinals' mistakes and equip Herrera to be a key piece of their future, as the organization has seemed to stunt his growth left and right.