Every year, or at least every year since 2012, we’ve taken some time after the season was over to look at the past 162 games through the lens of the players that played them (and the management that was in charge of them). Last year, the Exit Interview series spent less time digging into splits and finding numerical oddities and more time reflecting on the player and their season. It was a style that seemed to work so we’re going to bring it back again this year. The legendary cardinalsgifs is back to bring us excellent series art, so it’s all downhill after you see that!
Player: Ivan Herrera
Stats: 72 G, 259 PA, 37 R, 12 2B, 1 3B, 5 HR, 27 RBI, 5 SB, .301/.372/.428, 1.7 bWAR
Statcast: 9.0% barrel, 38.2% sweet spot, 112.4 max exit velocity, .351 wOBA, .369 xwOBA, 20.5 K%, 9.7 BB%
Grade: B
The Ivan Herrera case was honestly baffling. Yes, I know, he had trouble with base runners. 55 of 59 thieves were successful in pilfering the next base. That’s less than ideal, especially when you still are dealing with the Yadier Molina hangover. Yet Willson Contreras allowed 37 of 48 and Pedro Pages, who was truly Herrera’s competition most of the season, allowed 61 of 75 to be successful. No Cardinal catcher was doing much to stop the running game. What Herrera could do was hit, though. His offensive profile was perhaps the best of the three catchers and, given how well Contreras did, that’s saying something. When he was recalled at the end of August for the team’s last 32 games, he hit .368 but only started 15 of those games.
There didn’t seem to be anything more for him to do at Memphis but for some reason he spent almost a month down there after returning from the injured list. The elevation of Pages to the preferred backup of Contreras was defensible in some aspects but when the offense is sputtering, you’d think that having a good bat would be helpful. You could put Contreras and Herrera in the lineup at the same time, for instance. Once Contreras was on the injured list, though, Herrera would have seemed to be the clear starter and yet somehow it became a time share. What exactly was the organization’s plan for him? It never seemed very clear.
What’s in store for 2025: While there were questions about Herrera’s future going into the winter, the news that the Cardinals were going to move Contreras to first base seems to have clarified things immensely. Herrera’s now in line to be the regular starter at catcher, though my guess is he’ll still split time with Pages in a way that will frustrate many fans. Still, it’s nice to see a Cardinal catching prospect actually get a lot of time catching for the Cardinals.
