The Cardinals may be looking at a lineup crunch in the coming days

The St. Louis Cardinals seem to have hit their stride, winning four straight series, which includes beating generational ace Paul Skenes for the fourth time in his major league career. The offense has picked up the pace, and the pitching has been able to stay away from blow-up performances to keep the Cardinals within striking distance of a .500 record and in the early race in the National League Central. The offense appears to be close to getting another major boost in the coming days with catcher Ivan Herrera looking ready to return from a bone bruise that has sidelined him for four weeks.

Ivan Herrera's return from injury and Alec Burleson's power surge could take playing time away from struggling hitters.

At the time of his injury, Ivan Herrera was one of the hottest hitters in all of baseball and the best hitter in the Cardinals' lineup. The catcher led the team with four homers and 12 RBIs while putting up a 1.506 OPS that Aaron Judge would be jealous of. While running the bases, Herrera picked up the injury and had to be helped off of the field while all of Cardinal Nation held their breath when he went for imaging on his knee. The results seemed like a best-case scenario, as it turned out to be a bad bone bruise that was expected to sideline the backstop for at least four weeks.

That timeline has held true, as Herrera went out on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Memphis, and of course, he homered in his first game back while working as the designated hitter. It was announced that Herrera would have to catch back-to-back games in order to be cleared for a return, and after experiencing some soreness early in his rehab, he appears to have checked that box. In five games with Memphis, Herrera is hitting .412 with that home run, a double, and four RBIs while catching in three of those outings. The bat seems to be ready for action, but the defense may be the bigger question for Herrera's return.

Pedro Pages was thrust into everyday action after the injury and has held his own as the primary backstop. Pages is hitting a mediocre .239 but has a decent .389 slugging percentage and has been a welcomed change of pace behind the plate. Herrera's struggles to control the running game have been well documented, and before the bone bruise, he had yet to throw out a runner stealing on seven attempts. Pages, on the other hand, has thrown out seven out of 13 base stealers, including being the first catcher to throw out Oneil Cruz this season. Because of his ability to handle the pitching staff, an easy move would be to have Pages remain as the starting catcher with Herrera being moved to a full-time DH role. A week ago, this seemed like the no-brainer option, as the Cardinals' DH options have been one of their biggest issues on offense. However, that may have been put to rest with Alec Burleson's recent power surge.

Burleson has had a fine season based on his .257 batting average and his low 15.2% strikeout rate, but as a player without a primary position, the Cardinals needed him to tap into his power as the DH. From last year's All-Star break until May of this year, Burleson had a total of 13 extra-base hits and had yet to hit a home run this season. Once the calendar turned, however, Burly appears to have regained the power stroke that saw him hit 17 home runs before the midsummer classic last season. So far in May, Burleson has hit two homers and a double, including a two-run double against Paul Skenes that ended up being the game-winning hit. A fun note, Burleson has the most hits (six) against Skenes out of any other hitter in the majors. His recent games have raised his slugging percentage from a paltry .288 to a more respectable .352, while raising his OPS above the .600 mark.

If Burleson can maintain this hot streak, it would be tough to argue that Herrera should take the main DH spot. The lefty has played in 33 of the team's first 37 games, so it seemed unlikely that Burleson would be relegated to the bench anyway, but if he continued to struggle, it would not have been surprising to see him lose out on some playing time. This surge, though, most likely puts Herrera back into the starting catcher role, even though he split that role with Pages early in the season due to his defensive struggles. This shift would put Pages back on the bench along with Luken Baker, Jose Barrero, and Nolan Gorman. Jordan Walker has struggled badly, but his promised runway and ability to play the outfield appears to keep his spot in the order safe for the time being.

To keep Herrera healthy, Marmol could opt to keep Pages starting a few times a week with Herrera moving to DH, but that would have a trickle-down effect on the rest of the order. Burleson, normally a first baseman, would probably shift to the outfield, where he has only played one game so far this year. That move would keep Brendan Donovan at second base and Victor Scott II in center, but potentially move Lars Nootbaar over to right field and Walker to the bench, especially against right-handed starters. Having depth at multiple spots is a good problem to have, but only as long as each of those pieces is performing. A hot-hand approach could be the outcome, but that might make at-bats hard to come by for Gorman, Baker, and Walker, who have already struggled to find consistent opportunities.