The Cardinals’ catcher situation has reached the point where Leo Bernal’s name can’t stay parked in Triple-A much longer.
St. Louis is getting mixed results behind the plate in the majors.
Iván Herrera brings the bat, but the defense has been a problem all year. Teams have been willing to run on him, and he sits in the first percentile in caught stealing above average.
Pedro Pagés offers a different look, with better work alongside the pitchers and stronger defense, but his offense has stalled at .214. Jimmy Crooks has been better than Herrera defensively, yet his bat has also lagged, as he’s hitting .171.
That leaves the Cardinals with a lot of catching depth and not enough production from the group currently on the roster. Rainiel Rodríguez is coming, too, but the organization’s No. 1 overall prospect is only 19, so his arrival is still ahead.
Before that happens, St. Louis needs to see what the other catching options can do in the big leagues.
Bernal has made a strong case for himself in Triple-A. The 22-year-old is hitting .282/.369/.477 with an .846 OPS, 16 home runs and 77 RBIs in 98 games.
And the bat isn’t even the biggest selling point. Baseball America named him the best defensive catcher in the Triple-A International League, and last year he won the 2025 Minor League Gold Glove.
That’s the appeal with Bernal: he’s already producing at the plate, but his defense may be his loudest tool.
The jump from the minors to the majors is never simple, and Crooks is the clearest reminder of that. He was raking in Triple-A, then saw his offense cool after getting to St.
Louis. Bernal could face the same challenge, but the Cardinals have enough reason to find out.
Even if the bat takes time, his defense alone could help the club.
With the catcher position not giving St. Louis enough back right now, Bernal looks ready for a look.
The next obvious window comes on Sep. 1, when rosters expand from 26 to 28. If the Cardinals want to make the move then, they’d need to create room somewhere, whether that means Pagés or Crooks.
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The biggest obstacle is hard to miss. The bullpen has been a problem for much of the year, carrying a 4.48 ERA and leaving the Cardinals without enough dependable late-inning arms, with no reliever on the staff even sitting below a 3.10 ERA. The trade deadline only underscored that reality, as St. Louis moved on from pitchers like Dustin May and JoJo Romero, setting up an offseason in which fixing the relief corps figures to be one of the clubs top priorities. [Read more 🡒]