These crazy stats prove that Ivan Herrera should be the Cardinals primary catcher

Through five games of the regular season, the St. Louis Cardinals and Oli Marmol have used Pedro Pages as the club's primary catcher. He's caught 29 innings to Ivan Herrera's 17, and Pages was the club's Opening Day backstop.

Throughout the offseason, Marmol's preference was Pages, and Herrera's knee woes during spring training didn't help his case when it came to being the primary catcher. It's time for these two catchers to switch spots on the depth chart.

Ivan Herrera is an underrated hitter, and his defensive abilities have been on display early in the year so far. We're less than 5% of the way through the season, but Herrera is already showing that he's made some changes to his game.

Ivan Herrera has shown that he's the ideal catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals early in the season.

Ivan Herrera has caught two games this year so far. The stats that he's put up so far while catching are absurd, small sample size aside.

As a hitter when catching, Ivan Herrera is 2-6 this year with two doubles, three RBIs, two walks, and two strikeouts. As a hitter when being the designated hitter, Herrera is just 1-12 with one RBI and no walks or strikeouts.

One of the arguments for Pages being the primary catcher during the offseason revolved around his rapport with the pitching staff. So far this year, pitchers who have thrown to Ivan Herrera have a 0.00 ERA. Those throwing to Pedro Pages have an 8.07 ERA. Pitchers throwing to Herrera have given up only five hits all year as well. Meanwhile, pitchers throwing to Pedro Pages have given up 49 hits. Those throwing to Ivan Herrera have a combined WHIP of just 0.647 while those pitching to Pages have a combined WHIP of 2.241. The stat differences are uncanny!

Finally, Ivan Herrera has taken advantage of the new ABS challenge system. Prior to Tuesday night's game, the Cardinals were one of just two teams to not win a single ABS challenge. Herrera won two challenges, one as a hitter and another as a catcher, to break that curse.

In Ivan Herrera's first start of the year against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Rays scored five runs late in the game. However, Ivan Herrera was pulled after the eighth inning. All five runs scored by the Rays came in the ninth and tenth innings when Pedro Pages was catching.

Throwing baserunners out will still be an important part of Herrera's game. Runners haven't tested his arm out yet, but his caught-stealing rates will be a key indicator of his growth as a defender.

The Cardinals also have plenty of viable catching depth in the minors with Leonardo Bernal and Jimmy Crooks both splitting time at Triple-A Memphis. There's a chance Pedro Pages, who has a career .646 OPS, could become a backup catcher in the near future.

Ivan Herrera catching will always come with injury concerns. Keeping his bat in the lineup should be the priority, and keeping him as the primary designated hitter will protect him. However, in a year centered around finding who is a part of the next core of Cardinals players, it's imperative that Ivan Herrera sees as much time as possible behind the dish.