Cardinals continue to be tight-lipped about Ivan Herrera's return to catching duties

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 timing of the initial injury could not have been worse for Herrera, as the Cardinals' primary backstop at that time was one of the best hitters in the majors, with four homers and a 1.506 OPS in just six games.

While it was still early in the season, Herrera looked to be receiving most of the playing time in a catching tandem with Pedro Pages, despite Pages being the stronger defensive catcher. That continued to hold true in Herrera's limited time behind the dish this season, as he had failed to throw out any of the seven basestealers. When he went down, Pages slotted into the starter role and has answered 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 solid Cardinal lineup, hitting .245 with 14 RBIs, which is good for an 88 OPS+, below average but good enough for a defense-first catcher.

As Herrera neared a return from the injured list, he continued to mash Triple-A pitching, showing that he was ready to be thrown right into the lineup. Where he would be inserted into the starting nine, though, was the main question. Before his call-up, I was the first to point out that Luken Baker had been optioned down to Memphis rather than catcher Yohel Pozo. This meant that the Cardinals were going to be keeping three catchers on the active roster, which showed that the team either wanted to ease Herrera back into game action or does not trust his skills behind the plate.

When asked about Herrera's return behind the plate, manager Oli Marmol simply said "he will catch."

On a recent episode of Cardinal Territory with Katie Woo, she brought up having a discussion with Marmol about if Herrera would get any time behind the plate after playing in two games as the DH since his return. Since being activated, Herrera has tallied two hits, including a two-run double, and drawn a walk. Each game he has played in has been against a lefty starter, and that trend continued in game one in Philadelphia against lefty Cristopher Sanchez.

In the final game of the series against Washington, Pages received the day off behind the plate, but it was Pozo getting the call as the starting catcher. During the podcast episode, Woo mentioned that she asked Marmol about the plan to get Herrera back in the catcher's gear, if at all. She said, "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." The answer from Marmol was more of a non-answer that left plenty of meat on the bone for speculation.

The activation of Herrera could have been because the Cardinals needed an offensive boost, even if Herrera's knee was not ready to return to action as a catcher. Herrera did catch while on his rehab assignment with Memphis, but did experience some soreness early in his ramp-up. Once he is deemed fully healthy, it is possible that Pozo could be sent back down to Triple-A, and Herrera could begin to see more time behind the plate. The other, and potentially more likely option, is that Herrera stays as the DH option, mainly against lefty starters, and sees minimal time as the catcher when Pages needs an off day.