Pedro

Pagés

Wetherholt has an opportunity to break camp on St. Louis’ season-opening roster with a strong performance in Grapefruit League play and possesses the advanced hit tool and emerging power skillset to be a colossal fantasy difference-maker at a relatively weak second base position group. The 23-year-old top prospect batted .306/.421/.510 with 17 homers and 23 steals in 109 games in the upper minors last season and could split time between third base and the keystone with defensive wizard Masyn Winn occupying shortstop. It feels like only a matter of time before he ascends to the top of manager Oli Marmol’s lineup card as a top-of-the-order spark plug. The other interesting name to watch is power/speed combo threat Joshua Baez, who broke out with a 16-homer, 34-steal campaign at Double-A Springfield last year. Here’s the full lineup: Winn (SS), Alec Burleson (1B), Nolan Gorman (3B), Pedro Páges (C), Wetherholt (2B), José Fermín (LF), Nathan Church (CF), Baez (RF) and Blaze Jordan (DH).

The deal is now official. Pozo’s return on a split contract fortifies the Cardinals’ catching situation behind Pedro Páges with Iván Herrera ticketed for DH duty until further notice. The 28-year-old backstop posted a .637 OPS with five homers and 19 RBI in 168 appearances over a career-high 67 contests this past season.

Any fantasy managers hoping for one player to emerge will be disappointed, which will likely make it hard to roster either player for the final month of the season. Crooks will start on Tuesday for the first time at Busch Stadium with Miles Mikolas on the mound.

The 26-year-old backstop got the scoring started in the ballgame with his 407-foot (104.9 mph EV) two-run blast off of Shota Imanaga in the third inning. He also struck out and flied out to center in the contest. For the season, Pages is now hitting .211/.256/.341 with eight homers and 35 RBI in 291 plate appearances.

Pages led off the fifth inning with an infield single and ultimately scored on a two-out RBI knock off the bat of Willson Contreras. He then delivered a run-scoring single of his own in the sixth that extended the Cardinals’ lead to 5-0. With his two-hit night, the 26-year-old backstop is now hitting .211/.256/.331 with seven homers and 33 RBI on the season.

Pages has somehow hit seven homers on the season, and this was a big one as it tied the game at 4-4 in the fourth. The 26-year-old is still hitting just ..202 with a 322 slugging percentage, and it’s almost impossible to imagine there aren’t better catching options to roster.

It sounds like the hard-hitting 25-year-old backstop will remain there at least through the weekend and be ready to join the Cardinals coming out of next week’s All-Star break. Herrera was given a timeline of two-to-six weeks when he landed on the injured list on June 20, so it seems like that timetable tracks. His return will likely push Pedro Pages back into a reserve role while costing Yohel Pozo his spot on the active roster.

The recovery timetable for that specific severity typically ranges from 2-6 weeks, so it sounds likely Herrera is facing a multi-week absence, even in a best-case scenario. Pedro Pages will handle the bulk of the action behind the dish once again while Herrera is sidelined.

Iván Herrera has caught just twice in the 16 games since he came off the IL, so Pagés is still getting plenty of playing time. He’s batting a mere .217/.250/.372 in 136 plate appearances, but the Cardinals love his defense behind the plate, and it seems like they’ll keep DHing Herrera the majority of the time.

The Phillies will start Jesus Luzardo in Game 1, so Burleson will take a seat with Ivan Herrera starting at DH and Pedro Pages catching. With Aaron Nola on the mound in Game 2, Burleson should play the second game of the doubleheader with Pages on the bench.