Following a season that began with a start at catcher on opening day but has been spent primarily as a designated hitter, Cardinals slugger Ivan Herrera is set to use the upcoming offseason to prepare to head into spring training in 2026 as a catcher.
Cardinals manager Oli Marmol said he, incoming president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom, and Herrera have discussed what Herrera’s winter “needs to look like” for the 25-year-old to have the “best opportunity” to do so.
Improving arm strength and preparation with game calling will be two integral areas for Herrera ahead of next spring.
“It’s going to be an important off-season for him, but as we go into it, it’s with the full expectation of him doing this well and having an opportunity to catch,” Marmol said.
Of the 99 big-league games he’s appeared in this season entering Saturday, Herrera has made 14 appearances at catcher (13 starts), been used as a designated hitter in 81 games, and received four starts in left field as a way to open up the designated hitter spot. Herrera missed over a month of time on the injured list between April and May because of a bone bruise in his left knee and, after being used primarily as a designated hitter upon his return, was sidelined from mid-June through mid-July because of a left hamstring strain.
He was forced to exit early from a June 19 start at catcher against the White Sox for the hamstring injury and has not caught since, as the Cardinals have looked to keep Herrera, who has batted .280 and posted an .816 on-base plus slugging percentage, healthy and in their starting lineup.
When Herrera was at the catching spot, base runners were 15 for 15 against him on steal attempts. He’s allowed 75 stolen bases since debuting in the majors in 2022 and thwarted six of the 81 base-stealing attempts against him.
Marmol said the setting of Herrera’s offseason still has not yet been decided due to construction at the Cardinals’ complex in Jupiter, Florida, that prevents it from being an option.
The Cardinals plan to have a “hands-on approach” with the 25-year-old that will involve Ethan Goforth, the Cardinals’ minor league catching coordinator, and a throwing program to strengthen Herrera’s arm.
Marmol described having a “baseline understanding” of the pitching staff and layering that with knowledge of the opposition as areas of importance in game calling.
“What you look at and what you find important — count-sensitive stuff,” Marmol said. “There’s a long list of things that you can go through and progress as an offseason goes on, so that when you are in a game, it’s slower, and you know where you want to go and why you want to go there and having a purpose behind every pitch.”
When asked Saturday if playing in a foreign winter league would be an option for Herrera, Marmol said “at the moment” it would not be a possibility. Despite getting time in the outfield this season after coming off the IL on the final day before the All-Star break, Herrera is expected to use his winter to prepare exclusively as a catcher.
Marmol said it was a “fair decision” to allow Herrera’s opportunity to stick at catcher to “play out” through next spring training.
“He needs to focus every ounce on catching, and then the rest of it, we’ll figure out,” Marmol said.
Walker’s hard contact revealing
What two mighty swings Jordan Walker unleashed Friday in the Cardinals’ 7-1 win over the Brewers revealed more about the 23-year-old’s progress that goes beyond the advanced data, Marmol noted.
Walker singled to center field in the fifth inning on a ball he hit with a 117.9 mph exit velocity and singled to left field in the seventh inning on a ball that left his bat at 113.7 mph. The single from Walker in the fifth inning marked the hardest-hit ball by a Cardinal in the Statcast era, which dates back to 2015.
“Here’s what I’ll say about his at-bats today, if you go back and them, and this is something he was working on earlier in the day. Until you go back and look at it, there’s a calmness,” Marmol said on Friday night. “Even look at his face and his hands, there’s a slow rhythm, a calmness to it, and it looked good. I hope he can stay that slow in order to kind of read pitches and do what he did today, because those were two, yes, the exit (velocity) was what it was, but the swings were good as well. Hopefully, we can continue that.”
Extra bases
An update was not available Saturday on Masyn Winn’s visit to Miami to meet with a doctor to reevaluate the torn meniscus in his right knee. Winn traveled to Miami earlier this week for a second opinion and said before leaving that he could have surgery for the tear in the coming week.
Class AA Springfield (Missouri) announced left-hander Pete Hansen as their starter for Sunday’s Game 1 of the Texas League Championship Series against Midland, the Athletics’ Class AA affiliate. Hansen, a 25-year-old former third-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, has an 8-5 record and a 3.93 ERA in 26 starts for Springfield this season. Springfield will travel to Midland, Texas for Game 2 of the series. Game 3, if necessary, will be played in Midland.
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Daniel Guerrero | Post-Dispatch
Baseball writer
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