Cardinals have an elite bat hiding in plain sight with Ivan Herrera

While everyone's attention is on the star power of Jordan Walker and JJ Wetherholt right now, the St. Louis Cardinals have quietly had an elite bat on their hands for years now in Ivan Herrera. And if this trio continues the trajectory they are on, they'll be one of the best three-headed monsters in the sport.

Since 2024, when Ivan Herrera first started getting extended run at the big league level for the Cardinals, Herrera ranks top 15 in the sport in wRC+ (135), wOBA (.363), xwOBA (.374), OBP (.381), and AVG (.284). Among all catchers, he's first or second in all of those categories (yes, even including Cal Raleigh), and he's top five among all primary designated hitters. Herrera can flat-out rake, and he's been able to for quite some time now.

Herrera does not turn 26 until June 1st, so if you just compare him to other players who are 26 or younger, he ranks in the top five of each of those categories, basically only trailing Juan Soto, Bobby Witt Jr., and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in each of those categories. Uh, yeah, that's pretty darn good!

How Herrera keeps getting to these numbers is remarkable and shows you just how great of an offensive player he is. It all starts with Herrera's elite understanding of the strike zone, which allows him to maintain one of the lowest strikeout rates in the sport and walk more than just about anybody.

@jacobledelman over on X posted on April 29th that the only players in baseball this season with an xwOBAcon (which measures the expected outcome of a batter's contact based on things like exit velocity and launch angle) while walking more than they strike out are Yordan Alvarez, Mike Trout, Jose Ramirez, and Herrera. Again, that's great company to be in!

Because Herrera continues to become better and better at his awareness of the strike zone, and this season, adding in his ABS usage, winning the second most challenges among hitters to this point, he forces opposing pitchers to either give him a free pass or attack him in the zone. When they choose the latter, Herrera is able to use his great quality of contact to rope liners into the outfield or fly balls over the fence.

I ran a poll on X yesterday asking people who the most valuable Cardinal is long-term, and while I do not disagree with Wetherholt and Walker leading the voting, as of the time I am writing this, Herrera received just 2.1% of the 430 votes, which is honestly mind-boggling to think about, considering the sustained, elite offensive production he has shown to this point.

Herrera is a star bat, and honestly, I'm personally willing to say just a plain star all around, given how great his offensive production is, and the fact that he's at least playable at catcher right now. And as I said at the top, that trio has the potential to be scary for a long time.

Ivan Herrera is already a star bat, making the rise of Wetherholt and Walker even more exciting

Right now, the Cardinals have a trio in Wetherholt, Walker, and Herrera who are all under the age of 26 and have elite offensive upside. And those three, alongside Alec Burleson, who has been insanely productive the last few years but is in a slightly different category due to his age and limited club control, are already forming one of the best 1-2-3-4 punches in a lineup in the sport.

And the fact that these three bats are homegrown and cost-controlled through 2029 in the case of Herrera and Walker and 2031 for Wetherholt gives Chaim Bloom an incredible amount of flexibility in terms of how he builds this roster moving forward. The goal should be to keep all three in St. Louis long-term, but he can also look to supplement that core with a bat or two from the outside, along with Burleson, Masyn Winn, and top prospects like Rainiel Rodriguez, Joshua Baez, Jimmy Crooks, and more. Suddenly, the future of this position player core feels very bright.

While Wetherholt is just a month into his big league career and Walker is in the midst of proving his career transformation is not just a flash in the pan, Herrera has shown over the course of almost 900 big league plate appearances since 2022 that his bat is legit, and that's an incredible young anchor to have in this lineup as Wetherholt and Walker continue establishing themselves.

Wetherholt and Walker deserve the spotlight and fanfare that they are getting, but let's not forget that Herrera belongs in that same conversation.

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