ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - With Willson Contreras not set to be behind the plate for the St. Louis Cardinals next season, it puts more of a spotlight on Ivan Herrera and Pedro Pages.
Both Herrera and Pages will look to take a hold of being the man behind the plate for the Cardinals after Contreras switched full-time to first base, but both will head into 2025 with questions marks on parts of their games.
Pages was strong behind the plate, posting solid defensive metrics, including solid framing and blocking metrics, but the bat left a lot to be desired.
Pages last season posted a slash line of .238/.281/.376 with seven home runs and an OPS of .657. Pages' weighted runs created plus (wRC+) of 83 was below average to the league average wRC+ of 91 for a catcher.
Herrera, on the other hand, unsurprisingly posted strong offensive numbers, slashing .301/.372/.428, with five home runs and an OPS of .800 and a wRC+ of 127, but faced criticism last season for his work behind the plate, notably with holding runners.
According to Baseball Savant, Herrera post a -4 in the metric, catcher's caught stealing above average, which was in a eight-way tie for fifth-worst in all of baseball.
So far this Spring Training, Cardinals manager Oli Marmol has seen some progress both players have made.
On Pages, Marmol says they are seeing better swings made by Pages,but the club still doesn't really know his ceiling as a batter other than Marmol saying he wouldn't profile Pages 'as a power guy.'
"I think the limited at bats we have seen this spring, they're better, the path is better, he's driving the baseball," said Marmol. "Even on at bats where has nothing to show for it, you can tell the overall approach is better."
Marmol says Pages is showing more confidence this Spring Training then he did last year.
"People gravitate toward this guy," said Marmol. "Personality wise, no matter young, or veteran, they like being around him. He's confident. He's know what he's bringing to the table, but you're seeing a little bit more of that this camp than last camp."
On Herrera, Marmol says he has been working hard behind the plate, especially at trying to manage the running game.
"He spent a lot of the offseason in repatterning his throwing to give himself a better shot," said Marmol. "There's days that are going to look better than others, but my hope is we continue to come alongside of him and build him up in a way that doesn't have to be the case."
Marmol says he hopes he doesn't have to use Pages as a defensive replacement in games for Herrera like he did last year.