{"id":625227,"date":"2026-03-15T17:03:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T17:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/625227\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T17:03:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T17:03:12","slug":"the-st-louis-cardinals-opening-day-catching-carousel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/625227\/","title":{"rendered":"The St. Louis Cardinals’ Opening Day Catching Carousel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe St. Louis Cardinals<\/a> enter the final week of Spring Training with a few unanswered questions about their Opening Day lineup. Who will earn the left field start in Lars Nootbaar<\/a>\u2018s absence? Will J.J. Wetherholt<\/a> be making the start at second base for his debut? Another question regards the player who will be behind home plate to receive the season\u2019s first pitch. Of the team\u2019s three options, Yohel Pozo<\/a> should be the Cardinals\u2019 Opening Day catcher.
\nPozo Should Start at Catcher on Opening Day
\nWhat We Know About Pozo
\nPozo\u2019s story is inspirational. In 2020, Pozo and his family found themselves living in their car<\/a> due to financial struggles stemming from medical expenses for his infant son. With no minor league season due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Pozo family found themselves in a horrible situation, but managed to pull themselves out of it when Pozo found his way to the big leagues in 2021 with the Texas Rangers. Now wearing the iconic \u201cbirds on the bat,\u201d Pozo enters his second season as a Cardinal, looking to build off the highs of last season.<\/p>\n

In 261 at-bats in 2025, Pozo hit .241 with nine home runs and 32 runs driven in. Those are not eye-popping numbers, but Pozo found a way to make his hits count. Perhaps his most memorable home run of the season came in Wrigley Field over Fourth of July weekend, when Pozo hit a mammoth home run to left field late in a game that the Cardinals rallied to win.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

So far in Spring Training, Pozo is hitting .286 in 28 at-bats.<\/p>\n

Defensively, Pozo was a mixed bag. He was above average in blocks and framing, but was below average<\/a> when it came to throwing out base stealers and pop time (speed in throwing to a base). Furthermore, pitch framing will be less of a factor in 2026 due to the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS)\u00a0challenge system<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In short, Pozo\u2019s value is with his bat more so than his glove. \u00a0That does not mean he will not improve with time, but for now, his bat is his biggest weapon. <\/p>\n

The Cardinals\u2019 Other Options
\nIvan Herrera<\/a> was one of the team\u2019s best hitters last season, but like Pozo, his defense struggled. Herrera spent the offseason working on improving his catcher\u2019s abilities and has gotten starts behind the plate during Spring Training. However, it is looking increasingly likely that the 25-year-old will be the team\u2019s designated hitter on Opening Day. A knee inflammation is likely responsible for this, as it looked like the plan was for Herrera to be the catcher on Opening Day. However, he is still likely to see time at catcher once his knee fully heals.<\/p>\n

The third and final option is Pedro Pages<\/a>, who batted .238 with 11 home runs last season. Defensively, Pages was above average<\/a> in all but one category: blocking. Again, pitch framing has far less impact in 2026, making that statistic less meaningful than it used to be. However, it is clear that Pages is the opposite of Pozo. His glove is his weapon over his bat.
\nPozo Over Pages<\/p>\n

Pages is clearly the better defensive catcher at the moment. As such, it would seem to make more sense to start him on Opening Day. However, we believe it should be Pozo.<\/p>\n

At this time, Pozo\u2019s bat carries more weight than Pages\u2019 glove. As we said in the open, the Cardinals have some questions about this lineup. If Wetherholt makes the lineup, will he be ready for the MLB challenge? What about if Nelson Vel\u00e1zquez<\/a> gets the nod in left field<\/a> and appears in his first MLB game since 2024? Will he be ready for the return?. Furthermore, Jordan Walker<\/a> is entering what could be considered a \u201cboom or bust\u201d season<\/a>, but is struggling in Spring Training right now.<\/p>\n

The Cardinals may need someone who brings a little pop to the lineup. Pozo is someone who could help fill that void. Last season showed he can come through with the big hit when needed. He is seeing the ball well right now. His offense should put him behind the plate on Opening Day. If the Cardinals are winning in the late innings, manager Ollie Marmol can always put in Pages to improve the defense. <\/p>\n

The Bottom Line: Catching Carousel <\/p>\n

Regardless of who gets the Opening Day start, the Cardinals are going to be giving the other catcher a fair amount of time. Once Herrera\u2019s knee heals, he will be put into the mix as well.<\/p>\n

It will be a carousel, but for now, the Opening Day start should go to Pozo.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: Reinhold Matay- Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The St. Louis Cardinals enter the final week of Spring Training with a few unanswered questions about their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2403],"tags":[5,160,6012,4,1554,673,67,4311,4310,6362],"class_list":["post-625227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-louis-cardinals","tag-baseball","tag-cardinals","tag-ivan-herrera","tag-mlb","tag-pedro-pages","tag-st-louis","tag-st-louis-cardinals","tag-stlouis","tag-stlouiscardinals","tag-yohel-pozo"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116234275806780288","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}