2025 stats: 57 G, 166 AB, .187/.285/.259, 53 OPS+, 0.0 bWAR. 0.72 ISO, 11.3 BB%, 23.0 SO%. Two homeruns!Date of birth: February 24, 1997 (28 years old)2025 earnings: $618,648 (pro-rated $772,200)2026 status: Became a free agent on October 2.2022 player review (#34, 3.57 – Longest presence in the Diamondbacks organisation of all players)2023 player review (#31, 4.64 – Back-up catcher with nothing to be excited about)2024 player review (#26, 5.53 – Bumped Tucker Barnhart off the roster)
Almost 12 years. That was the amount of time that José Herrera, born in Venezuela, had spent with the Diamondbacks when the 2025 season started, him being an international amateur who signed with the team on July 8th, 2013, when Kevin Towers was still the general manager.
Herrera got a big signing bonus, more than $1MM, so was probably a bit more than “just an international acquisition” and if you wish to read a bit more background information, I encourage you to read our 2022 player review.
It took Herrera 9 years to get to the big leagues. He was a slow riser, but he got there, despite the “defense-over-offense-profile” as often mentioned on the prospect sites.
In 2022 he made the roster behind Carson Kelly, because Daulton Varsho was too good a hitter to be used in a tandem or as a back-up catcher.
In 2023 he looked to be out, with Hazen keen on getting surplus value over Carson Kelly. However, Herrera was lucky and found himself on the roster almost the entire season, thanks to injuries to both Kelly and new acquisition Gabriel Moreno, with Kelly eventually being moved elsewhere. Herrera did lose his spot on the active roster at the end of the season, to Seby Zavala, who got then traded in the off-season.
In 2024 Herrera again looked to be out of the picture with the signing of veteran Tucker Barnhart. However, once again Moreno got injured and Herrera proved to be less worse than Barnhart, so the Venezuelan got the nod over him, sticking onto the roster until the end of the season, because Adrian del Castillo can’t catch big leaguers.
The Diamondbacks didn’t deem the back-up catching position as one of their priorities, so for the first time, it seemed that Herrera didn’t need to fear for his 2025 presence in the major leagues, at least not at the beginning.
Herrera, out of options, was indeed a no-brainer as the backup catcher of the team when the season started. The Venezuelan native has always been appreciated for his good relationship with the pitching staff and his presence in the clubhouse, thus he took his seat behind home plate every 4 games or so, getting his first start in the second game of the season against the Cubs.
Herrera had, as expected, troubles in getting on base, although he had a “hot start” of the season, launching his first homerun of the season (his second of his major league career) in his 4th game in 2025, against the Nationals.
Herrera didn’t produce much at the plate, which was fine until the inevitable happened: in June Gabriel Moreno got injured. The front office probably remembered the nightmare that was the offensive ineptitude of the Barnhart-Herrera combo in 2024, and looked outside of the organization for help, unwilling to pair Herrera with someone like Aramis García.
Recently released James McCann was signed and the veteran started to produce almost immediately. For the first time, it was Herrera now who was threatened to lose his job behind the plate. At the time Gabriel Moreno would return from the injured list, late August, McCann was hitting .247/.337/.403, and Herrera .187/.285/.259, with both catchers providing more or less the same mediocre catching value. Herrera received the bad news when Moreno was activated again, it was painful that it came a few days after hitting his third career home run, at Coors Field. The team went 30-28 with Herrera behind the plate.
Apart from the catching duties, Herrera also appeared twice on the mound, pitching two innings in blow-out losses against the Reds and Tigers, facing 10 batters, giving up only 1 run.
After being designated for assignment for the first time in his career, Herrera had to accept the outright to Reno and joined the AAA team for the remainder of the season. With his outright he bumped Rene Pinto of the Aces’ roster and split time with Aramis Garcia.
Herrera is familiar with the organization and, obviously, the Diamondbacks have appreciated his skills behind the plate, otherwise you don’t spend as much time on the roster as Herrera did the past 4 seasons, although the option years probably helped him with that too.
In the end, though, it was probably all just a matter of time before Herrera would disappear from the 40-man roster.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Herrera returns to the Diamondbacks at one moment, at the right time and opportunity, with Herrera being available and the team looking for catching depth during the season.
However, for now, Herrera will be looking for an opportunity somewhere else.
The Diamondbacks have already signed Aramis Garcia as depth in Reno and will soon have Cristian Cerda debuting in AAA, removing any need of having Herrera in the organization.
With his baggage, though, he should have no problem in finding a minor league contract with a new team, although his time in the major leagues might be very limited: in 2025 Herrera was amongst the worst 10 hitters in baseball with at least 200 plate appearances, although he was in good company of Anthony Santander and Joc Pederson (and former Diamondback and local boy Josh Rojas).