Ivan Herrera's defense behind the plate may be holding the Cardinals back

Ahead of the 2026 season, the St. Louis Cardinals faced several important questions. One thing that was made clear: Ivan Herrera was going to catch. 

All stats recorded as of June 5th (prior to St. Louis' game)

Backstop of the future? 

Herrera, 26, has been a threat at the plate since he debuted. Through 896 at-bats, the right-hander has a career 129 OPS+. His production has normalized as of late, but especially against southpaws, Herrera feels inevitable. 

This season, he’s back at it again. Currently, St. Louis’ catcher is slashing .259/.382/.415, good for an OPS of .798. Although his slug and power metrics have dipped, Herrera has really weaponized the walk this season. He currently ranks in the 80th percentile in walk rate across baseball. 

His offensive production has continued to soar, and from a pure hitting standpoint, he’s among MLB’s best backstops. How has he fared behind the dish? 

Offensive defense 

Ahead of opening day, Theo DeRosa of MLB.com wrote a piece on the young catcher's focus on defense and how he was working closely with St. Louis legend Yadier Molina. 

DeRosa wrote, “In an injury-riddled 2025 -- Herrera missed more than a month with a left knee injury and missed several more weeks with a left hamstring strain -- opposing basestealers were 10-for-10 against the St. Louis backstop. Herrera is well aware of the numbers.

‘I need to earn that respect back,’ Herrera said. ‘I haven’t thrown anybody out. Once I start doing that, maybe people will stop stealing.’” 

Although Herrera obviously made it a point to improve his defense, the numbers haven’t vindicated his efforts. 

This season, Herrera is 0/15 on throwing out runners attempting to steal–an even worse mark than prior. That ranks him in the bottom percentile in baseball in caught stealing above average. His average pop time of 2.00 on the dot further hinders his ability to hold the running game. 

In addition to his poor efforts to slow opposing baserunners, Herrera hasn’t been the wall St. Louis needs. He ranks in the middle of the pack in blocks above-average. That can be acceptable if he’s stealing strikes or forcing challenges, though. Not the case. Herrera is below-average at framing the baseball. 

That raises an important question: How is Herrera’s defense affecting the Cardinals as a team?

The consequences of a lackluster backstop

It’s entirely fair to say that St. Louis fans have been spoiled for years behind the dish, most notably by Molina. Now that the Cardinals have started prioritizing offense, there’s potential for major implications elsewhere on the roster. 

While playing the Rangers, a series that the Cardinals dropped two games to one, pitcher Andre Pallante tried to bury a pitch against nine-hole hitter Nicky Lopez. Instead of a solid waste pitch, it scooted by Herrera, rolling all the way to the backstop, and advancing a runner to second. 

Lopez had spent that entire at-bat trying and failing to lay down a bunt. Instead, the Cardinals moved the runner for him.

A few batters later, with a runner still on second base and two outs, the Rangers' best hitter came to bat: Josh Jung. 

Pallante worked the count to two strikes, and then threw a slider that cement-mixed its way into the barrel of Jung’s bat, eventually ending up in centerfield, and tying the game at one apiece. By no means was it a bad spot, but in a two-strike count, you’d love to see Pallante bury that pitch or let it eat. See how many RPMs he can get and go after a whiff against a bat that is susceptible to chase (Jung has a 32.4% chase percentage in 2026). 

There’s no guarantee Pallante hung that pitch because Herrera has been unreliable behind the plate. Sometimes, baseball just unravels that way. 

However, it’s worth noting that Herrera’s primary battery-mates, Michael McGreevy and Pallante, both rank at the bottom of the Cardinals’ staff in strikeout percentage with two strikes. That doesn’t mean Herrera is solely responsible for their shortcomings in setting down opposing bats, but it does raise an interesting question. If Herrera is unable to smother pitches in the dirt, is it causing a cautious approach to two-strike counts? 

Pallante and McGreevy, particularly the latter, are both outperforming their expected numbers. That being said, Herrera could be excelling in some regard. Pitch calling, feel for the game, and a catcher's relationship with his pitcher aren't easy to quantify with data. There is a possibility that Herrera is positively impacting the game in areas that defensive metrics fail to capture.

Through all of the uncertainty about where Herrera's catching future lies, the organization's future behind the dish looks rather bright.

The Cardinals have plenty of catching depth

As manager, Oli Marmol says, Herrera can only control what he can control. He can’t grant Pallante elite strikeout stuff, and he’s unable to make McGreevy throw any harder. What Herrera can do is give his battery-mates the confidence to throw pitches in the dirt, not stress about runners on base, and cultivate trust in his pitch-calling ability.

Whether it’s his inability to control the running game, poor framing metrics, or the occasional passed ball, Herrera has not lived up to his defensive expectations. With the arrival of catching prospect Jimmy Crooks, the continued ascension of Raniel Rodriguez in the minor leagues, and the threat of defensive specialist Leo Bernal in Memphis, there is plenty of catching talent in the Redbird farm system. 

Herrera has already proven he’s a quality MLB hitter. If he wants to cement himself as a long-term answer behind the dish, his defense will need to follow suit.

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