The Cardinals’ catching depth has intrigued other teams for over a calendar year. Although St. Louis has yet to trade from that area of organizational strength, that’ll again surely be a point of discussion for the front office.

St. Louis has four catchers on the 40-man roster: Leo Bernal, Iván Herrera, Jimmy Crooks and Pedro Pagés. Top prospect Rainiel Rodriguez won’t need an offseason roster spot but has mashed his way to Double-A. There’s a chance he earns an MLB look next season at age 20. He’ll at the very least play his way to Triple-A and be on the radar for a 2028 promotion.

If Rodriguez were to make his debut next season, he’d likely be the second rookie catcher on the active roster. Bernal, who turns 23 in February, figures to break camp for the first time in his career. The Cardinals brought up the Panama native with September roster expansion. Bernal started 22 of the final 24 games, drawing 15 assignments behind the plate with seven more between first base and designated hitter. He made a strong first impression, batting .284 with five homers. Bernal scuffled a bit defensively, committing six errors, but most scouting reports feel he’ll be serviceable behind the plate.

It seems the Cardinals expect that to be the case next year. Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch suggests the team would prefer to give Bernal the primary catching job in 2027. That makes it unlikely they’d seriously entertain trade conversations on him unless another team dangled an especially high-upside starting pitcher. A retooling St. Louis club almost certainly isn’t moving Rodriguez, who hit .328/.408/.591 as a 19-year-old in Double-A.

Where does that leave the other three players? If Bernal has jumped to the top of the depth chart, the Cards could shop any of their other MLB catchers. They’d find varying levels of interest in each, as all three players fill different roles at this stages of their careers.

Iván Herrera

Some teams probably view Herrera as an emergency catcher only. St. Louis gave him 52 starts behind the dish compared to 108 appearances at DH. Clubs that place a premium on catcher defense are unlikely to consider him a viable #1 option. Herrera’s receiving metrics are middle of the pack, but he may be the worst in the league at halting the running game.

Herrera ranked 79th among 94 catchers this season in average pop time (2.00 seconds flat) on throws to second base. He has both a relatively long exchange and below-average velocity, the latter potentially tied to a 2025 elbow injury that required postseason surgery. Herrera has only thrown out one baserunner in the last two years. (He technically has two caught stealing, but one was on a pickoff by Matthew Liberatore that resulted in a rundown in which Herrera recorded the out.) He’s 8-128 for his career.

Even with the defensive questions, Herrera should be a target for teams that have DH at-bats available and are looking for a righty bat. He’s a career .265/.362/.410 hitter in nearly 1500 trips to the dish. Herrera’s 2026 rate statistics were a little below his usual standard, thanks mostly to a dismal slump in July, but he gets on base and has hit 19 home runs in consecutive seasons. He’s particularly a force against left-handed pitching, running a career .260/.405/.418 line with the platoon advantage. Righty bats were at a premium at the deadline.

Herrera is entering his arbitration window. He’s controllable for three more seasons, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz forecasting him for a salary in the $5.5MM range. The Blue Jays, Mariners, Mets, Twins, Braves, Diamondbacks and Pirates are among the teams that struggled against southpaws and/or need more production out of the DH spot.

Jimmy Crooks

Crooks probably has the best chance of this trio to be an all-around #1 catcher. He hasn’t shown any signs of it at the major league level, however. The lefty-hitting Crooks has a .168/.231/.313 slash line in 195 career plate appearances. He’s already 25 and has seemingly been surpassed by a younger player in Bernal. If Crooks is going to get a true audition, it’ll probably need to come with another team.

The extent of other teams’ interest should come down to the evaluations of their respective pro scouting departments. Crooks rated as one of the top 10 prospects in the St. Louis system, according to Baseball America, in both 2025 and ’26. FanGraphs listed him among their top 100 overall minor league talents as recently as February.

Most scouting reports are bullish on Crooks’ defensive ability. There’s more question about the bat, especially his pure hitting ability, but he’s a .283/.371/.484 hitter at the Triple-A level. Crooks has two minor league option years remaining, so the Cardinals aren’t facing any roster pressure to move him, but they’re probably better served looking to swap him for a young pitcher. The Angels, Giants, Rangers, Phillies, Nationals and Athletics (if they trade Shea Langeliers) all have questions about their long-term future at the position.

Pedro Pagés

Pagés, who also has two options remaining, is the easiest evaluation of the three. He’s a 28-year-old who has a .229/.275/.354 line over parts of three seasons. Pagés is unlikely to ever reach base enough to be a first-division catcher. However, he’s a quality receiver with a plus arm who has thrown out an excellent 26% of base stealers in his career.

The former sixth-round pick is qualifying for arbitration for the first time as a Super Two player. Swartz projects him for a salary around $1.3MM. Pagés is likely to have a lengthy career as a backup/high-end third catcher. The Cardinals could keep him around as an experienced mentor to Bernal and Rodriguez, yet they may prefer to swap him for a depth starter or a middle reliever. The Yankees, D-Backs, Rangers, Twins, Phillies, White Sox and Astros need to address the backup catcher spot.