The Cardinals’ catching room has become one of those roster pockets other clubs keep circling back to, and that conversation figures to pick up again this offseason. St. Louis still hasn’t dealt from that surplus, but the group remains deep enough to invite calls.
That depth starts with a crowded 40-man picture: Leo Bernal, Iván Herrera, Jimmy Crooks and Pedro Pagés. Then there’s Rainiel Rodriguez, who doesn’t need a winter roster spot but has torn through Double-A and could put himself in the mix for an MLB look next season at age 20. At minimum, he seems headed for Triple-A and a path that could put him on track for a 2028 promotion.
If Rodriguez reaches the majors next year, he’d probably be joining Bernal as a rookie behind the plate. Bernal, who turns 23 in February, looks set to break camp for the first time.
St. Louis brought him up with September roster expansion, and he made the most of the opportunity: 22 starts over the final 24 games, 15 of them at catcher and seven more split between first base and designated hitter.
He hit .284 with five home runs, even if the glove was a work in progress, with six errors in that stretch. Still, the read from most scouting reports is that he should be serviceable defensively.
The Cardinals appear ready to give him that chance. Derrick Goold of The St.
Louis Post-Dispatch suggests the team would prefer Bernal as the primary catcher in 2027. That makes Bernal a tough trade candidate unless another club comes with an especially high-upside starting pitcher.
Rodriguez, meanwhile, looks even less likely to move after hitting .328/.408/.591 as a 19-year-old in Double-A.
That leaves Herrera, Crooks and Pagés as the names to watch.
Herrera is the bat with the broadest appeal. Some teams may still see him as more of an emergency catcher than a true No. 1 behind the plate, and the defensive concerns are real.
The Cardinals used him for 52 starts at catcher and 108 appearances at DH, and clubs that value receiving and run prevention highly probably won’t see him as a starter. His catching metrics sit in the middle range, but the running game has been a major issue.
Herrera ranked 79th among 94 catchers this season with a 2.00-second average pop time on throws to second, and his exchange and arm strength both lag. A 2025 elbow injury that required postseason surgery may have played into that.
He has thrown out just one baserunner over the last two years. His career total is 8-for-128.
Even so, Herrera should draw interest from teams that can use a right-handed hitter and have DH at-bats to spare. He owns a .265/.362/.410 line across nearly 1,500 plate appearances and has hit 19 home runs in each of the last two seasons.
He’s also especially effective against lefties, carrying a .260/.405/.418 mark with the platoon advantage. After a rough July dragged down his 2026 rate stats, his track record still stands out.
He is entering arbitration and can be controlled for three more seasons, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him at about $5.5MM. The Blue Jays, Mariners, Mets, Twins, Braves, Diamondbacks and Pirates are among the clubs that either struggled against left-handed pitching or need more from the DH spot.
Crooks is a different sort of possibility. At 25, he may have the best shot of the group to develop into an all-around No. 1 catcher, but he hasn’t shown that yet in the majors.
The left-handed hitter has a .168/.231/.313 line in 195 career plate appearances, and Bernal has clearly moved ahead of him in the organizational pecking order. If Crooks is going to get a real shot, it may have to come elsewhere.
The scouting on him is stronger than the big-league production. Baseball America ranked Crooks among the Cardinals’ top 10 prospects in both 2025 and 2026, and FanGraphs had him in its top 100 overall minor league talents as recently as February.
Most reports like the defense. The bat is where the debate starts, especially the pure hit tool, though he has put up a .283/.371/.484 line at Triple-A.
He also has two option years left, which means St. Louis doesn’t have to move him.
But if the Cardinals shop him, a young pitcher would make sense as the return. The Angels, Giants, Rangers, Phillies, Nationals and Athletics - if they trade Shea Langeliers - all have uncertainty at catcher long term.
Pagés is the cleanest case of the bunch. He’s 28, has two options remaining, and owns a .229/.275/.354 line across parts of three seasons.
The on-base profile probably won’t ever make him a first-division regular, but he brings legitimate value with the glove. Pagés is a quality receiver with a plus arm and has thrown out 26% of attempted base stealers in his career.
He’s also in a notable contract situation, qualifying for arbitration for the first time as a Super Two player. Swartz projects him around $1.3MM.
The Cardinals could keep him as a steady veteran presence for Bernal and Rodriguez, but he also fits as trade material for a depth starter or middle reliever. The Yankees, D-Backs, Rangers, Twins, Phillies, White Sox and Astros all have backup catcher needs to sort out.
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