Cardinals need to give Ivan Herrera full-time catching duties when he returns from IL

The primary story of the 2025 St. Louis Cardinals is giving opportunities to young players to see if they can become regular starters for the future. Lars Nootbaar, Jordan Walker, and Victor Scott II have all been given ample runway. Nolan Gorman is starting to get more frequent starts. Masyn Winn has been playing virtually every day. Matthew Liberatore has made every scheduled start this year. So far, the plan is going according to script as far as playing time distribution goes.

Where the "runway" plan has fallen short is behind the plate. Ivan Herrera was the club's Opening Day starter. This allowed Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson, Brendan Donovan, and Lars Nootbaar to all start that day, as the designated hitter spot was open for either Burleson or Nolan Gorman. Manager Oliver Marmol opted for Burleson in that spot due to Burly's strong spring training.

Since then, Herrera has started behind the plate in only 13 of his 42 games played. The rest of the games have seen either Pedro Pages or Yohel Pozo as the starting catcher. The employment of Pedro Pages as the primary catcher needs to change.

Ivan Herrera needs to be the St. Louis Cardinals' primary starting catcher for the rest of the year when he returns from the IL.

Obviously, Ivan Herrera's stint on the injured list is going to delay this potential change, but it's one the club needs to prepare for when he returns.

Starting Herrera as the team's primary catcher frees up several designated hitter spots throughout the week for either Alec Burleson or Nolan Gorman, two of the team's hottest hitters during the month of June.

Employing Herrera behind the plate also feeds into the team's runway narrative that they've preached throughout the offseason and during the regular season. Herrera has been afforded ample offensive opportunities this year, but he's been handcuffed when it comes to his defensive development in 2025.

We all know that Ivan Herrera has his shortcomings behind the dish: He's in the 18th percentile in caught stealing above average and the 50th percentile in blocking, according to Baseball Savant. His only positive catching metric is his pop time of 2.00 seconds. Herrera's exchange rate of 0.63 seconds is also above average. Herrera's arm is also below average, with a throw speed of just 78.3 MPH, 63rd out of 72 catchers in baseball.

These aren't stellar defensive statistics, but Pedro Pages isn't leagues better than Herrera as the front office would lead you to believe. Pages's exchange rate (0.67 seconds) trails Herrera's, but his pop time (1.94 seconds), arm strength (83.7 MPH), and caught stealing above average (66th percentile) all exceed Herrera's metrics. However, Pages is below average in terms of blocking pitches.

Baseball Savant calculates Pages at a -2 blocks above average, and his 21 wild pitches plus passed balls are the sixth most in baseball among qualified catchers. Herrera has been better at blocking "tough" pitches as deemed by Baseball Savant, as he has a 2.3% block rate on these pitches, third among all catchers in baseball, while Pages has a 1.3% block rate. Herrera has been the better blocker behind the dish.

Ivan Herrera has also been the far superior hitter compared to Pedro Pages. Pages is slashing .221/.262/.360 with five home runs and 22 runs batted in for a 73 OPS+. Herrera is slashing .320/.392/.533 with eight home runs and 36 runs batted in for a 153 OPS+. He's hitting .352 in games where he's started as a catcher, with six of his eight home runs there. Clearly, being the team's catcher hasn't hindered his offensive output.

The Cardinals have been touting Pages as a pitcher whisperer and a supreme defender behind the plate. He's an above-average defender at catcher, but his offensive shortcomings are too great to overcome. Moving Ivan Herrera to full-time catching duties fills two goals for the Cardinals this year: It opens up time for players like Alec Burleson and Nolan Gorman, and it allows Herrera the runway to develop his entire game for the future.