Ranking the 10 most valuable Cardinals who will define their future

#3 - C/DH Ivan Herrera

Previous Rankings: Sep. '25 - #2, May '25 - #1

Ivan Herrera has done nothing to "drop" him on this list. In fact, he's only continued to cement himself as an elite bat and is now back behind the plate trying to establish himself as a catcher. There are just two players who have undeniably raised their stock in the last eight months.

Honestly, if I had to make this list again, I may actually move him to the second spot on this list, because once you see just how productive he's been at the plate for years now, it'll be hard not to just take that known commodity rather than crossing your fingers for "more" from the other two.

I wrote about this for the site yesterday, but since 2024, Herrera has been one of the top 15 bats in baseball by AVG, OBP, wRC+, wOBA, and xwOBA, and ranks in the top 5 hitters 26 or younger in those same categories. In 2026, Herrera seems to have mastered his feel for the strike zone, walking at a career high rate (16.9%) and striking out at the lowest percentage of his career (16.2%). Only Mike Trout, Jose Ramirez, and Yordan Alvarez have been as productive at the plate as Herrera had are walking more than they strikeout.

This is forcing opposing pitchers to either give Herrera constant free passes or come into the strike zone to attack him, allowing Herrera to do more damage on pitches he can strike. Herrera also doesn't have a split "weakness", posting a 125 wRC+ against righties and 147 wRC+ against lefties for his career, which is such an advantage to have in a lineup.

Herrera is now catching two out of every five days right now, working to get himself into position to be a regular catcher again, which would improve his value even further. Even if Herrera does not stick behind the plate, he has the tools to be a left fielder or first baseman someday, which would give him some defensive value to add to his game as well. Even if not, Herrera is more than capable of providing top-end value as a DH-only player, if that were to be his destiny.

He doesn't turn 26 until June 1st, and still has three years of club control remaining following this season. The Cardinals will need to make a decision on his long-term future soon, because Herrera is continuing to drive up his price with his consistent, impactful production at the plate.

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