Cardinals catcher's scorching August is cementing his status for 2026 roster

The St. Louis Cardinals looked to have finally been committing to their future when they called up catching prospect Jimmy Crooks III on Friday, but he remained out of the lineup for the first two games of the series against the Cincinnati Reds. As has been the case for the vast majority of the year, Pedro Pages was behind the plate for his 98th game this year.

Coming into August, the commitment to playing Pages every day was draining on fans, as the catcher started the month with a .201 batting average and 54 WRC+ with just six homers. The argument for Pages' continued starts was that he plays above-average defense and knows how to handle a pitching staff, the latter point we fans have no idea how to value, as the staff has been below average for the majority of the season. All of that changed as we hit the dog days of the summer, as Pages has been the engine of the offense.

Pedro Pages has been the Cardinals' best offensive player in August.

As frustrating as it was to continue to see Pages' name in the lineup mostly every day while Yohel Pozo put together decent moments and the minor league backstops were playing well, patience paid off. Before going into Pages' hot month, it is fair to note that Pozo put up a WRC+ of 9 while tallying just five hits in 40 at-bats. I personally felt that there would be no harm in calling up Crooks at the start of August and allow him to get his feet wet at the major league level, but Cardinal management decided to stay true to their starting backstop, who has definitely taken on a larger role than most anticipated coming into the season.

Even with Crooks going yard for his first major league hit and homer, he does not appear to be threatening Pages for the everyday job just yet. Pages has done his best to prevent the organization from taking his spot away, as he is the only Cardinal hitter batting above .300 this month and he finished August with a cool .351 batting average. Beyond the average, Pages has performed with some clutch power, smacking five homers and four doubles this month as well as driving in a team-leading 15 runs. His OPS for the month was a sizzling 1.097, and if he had enough at-bats to qualify, his 201 WRC+ for August would be the tops in all of baseball.

Pages hitting for power is not too much of a surprise, as he hit 26 homers and 38 doubles in 203 minor league games between 2022 and 2023. FanGraphs had Pages rated as having 45 power and 50 fielding grades on the 80-grade scouting scale, and Baseball Savant feels he has been above average behind the plate. He has also been applauded for having certain intangibles and a good rapport with the pitching staff, but it is fair to question what that actually means when the pitchers have been one of the worst rotations in all of baseball.

While one great month is not enough to forget the painful at-bats from the first half of the season, Pages has talked about how he has gone back to a relaxed approach at the plate, and it appears to be working. If he can keep this pace up for the last month of the year and the team continues to play Jimmy Crooks sparingly, we might have to expect to see Pages as the starting catcher in 2026.