The final evaluation of where Ivan Herrera will see the bulk of his playing time will, by necessity, have to come once the regular season begins.
ST. LOUIS — One of the biggest questions the Cardinals will need to answer this season won’t be determined by what happens during spring training.
“Can Ivan Herrera throw well enough to be the team’s primary catcher?”
On the first day of the annual Winter Warm-Up at Busch Stadium on Saturday, manager Oli Marmol said during his 30-minute session with the media that the final evaluation of where Herrera will see the bulk of his playing time will, by necessity, have to come once the regular season begins.
The Cardinals will be able to get somewhat of a read on how Herrera is throwing during the exhibition schedule, but it will lack a more thorough evaluation because of the nature of spring training games.
“I think it’s hard to evaluate strictly in the spring,” Marmol said, citing the lack of specific hitter-by-hitter game planning in those games. Also, teams generally do not attempt the same level of basestealing as they might do during the regular season.
“There are certain things that we will be able to address and improve on during the spring,” Marmol said.
Marmol and the Cardinals expect Herrera’s throwing to be improved because of off-season surgery that removed bone chips from his right elbow.
“(He) described how his elbow felt every time he tried to throw; it definitely was a part of it,” Marmol said.
In his session with reporters, Herrera said that the injury last season prevented him from straightening his elbow, which obviously impacted his throwing.
He began a throwing program last week in Florida and said he will be back there working out on Monday to begin additional defensive drills.
The injury, and his performance, limited Herrera to just 14 games behind the plate in 2025, when he allowed 15 steals and did not throw out a runner.
That was a continuation of his previous results. In his short big-league career, Herrera has thrown out only six of 81 runners attempting to steal.
Despite those struggles, it was a good 2025 season for Herrera because of his offensive performance. With 89 of his 107 games coming as the designated hitter, Herrera hit 19 homers and drove in 66 runs while posting a .284 average.
If he can hit that well from the catching position, it definitely would be a boost for the Cardinals’ lineup.
Herrera has been adamant about wanting to become the full-time catcher.
“I knew I couldn’t throw but my arm was not 100 percent,” he said. “It was a health issue. I’ve been getting better every year defensively with blocking and receiving. People just talk about the bad stuff, which I never listened to because I never thought I was a bad catcher.
“If you told me I was below average blocking or below average receiving, then I might be OK with sticking to first base. I work hard. I came through the minor leagues as a catcher, that’s something I want to do. I work hard for this. I want to be a really good hitter and be a really good catcher.”
Marmol has appreciated Herrera’s approach this winter.
“We announced we were going to give him every opportunity to be behind the plate and he’s taken that seriously,” Marmol said, noting the team’s catching instructors had given him a curriculum to follow this spring as he recovered from the surgery.
“He’s bought in on the mental side of how to prepare every day to catch and be effective behind the plate.”
Chaim Bloom, the Cardinals president of baseball operations, said he also has been pleased with what he has been told about Herrera’s progress this winter.
“He’s in the early staging of his throwing program which we designed for him,” Bloom said. “There’s been great work on the part of our staff, really a cooperative effort, to try to leverage this not just for health but also to get him to a place where he will be better equipped to throw guys out in the course of a game. He’s in that process but he’s on track and we’re excited to see as we get closer to camp where he’s at.”
Herrera is one of four catchers on the 40-man roster, along with Pedro Pages, Yohel Pozo and prospect Jimmy Crooks. Two of the top minor-league prospects in the organization, Leonardo Bernal and Rainiel Rodriguez, also are catchers.
The composition of the 26-man active roster won’t include more than three catchers, and possibly only two. If Herrera is not one of those catchers, it will have an impact on other positions.
Another reason why evaluating Herrera’s defensive performance could be delayed into the season is because he might be away from the team for at least part of the spring to play for Panama in the World Baseball Classic.
That team will begin its schedule on March 4 with an exhibition game against Detroit and continue until at least the end of pool play on March 9. If Panama advances to the next round, Herrera could miss even more time in the Cardinals’ camp.
Herrera did say on Saturday that if he joins the Panama team it likely will be as the DH and that he doesn’t expect to catch in those games.
Herrera is one of the young players Marmol and the Cardinals will be hoping show progress this year. There are only three players on the 40-man roster who are 30 years old or older, and all are pitchers.
“It will be fun to show up every day and see what these guys are capable of doing,” Marmol said. “There’s weeks that won’t look great but individually some of these guys are capable of taking a big step in their career.”
Herrera is one who knows he has something to prove.
“I believe in myself as a catcher and I am going to put all my efforts into that when I go out there and try to do what everybody thinks I can’t do,” Herrera said. “Maybe I will be throwing guys out. I think that is the only thing I am missing. It’s motivation to be better.”