In a season that will go down as a disappointment for the team offense, one positive stands out for the Cardinals.
The only discouraging aspect of Herrera’s 2025 is the two injuries – knee, then hamstring – that put him on the Injured List for 55 total days this season. But as a Pro Football Hall of Fame St. Louis Rams wide receiver once said about his problematic hamstring: “When I’m well, I’m hell.”
And through Tuesday’s win over the Reds, Herrera had packed plenty of offense in his 97-game profile that includes 409 plate appearances.
Going into Wednesday’s action, here are the five-highest wRC+ marks by hitters age 25 or younger that have 400+ plate appearances this season – and 100 is the league average:
1. Nick Kurtz, A’s, 172 wRC+.
2. Geraldo Perdomo, Diamondbacks, 139 wRC+.
3. Corbin Carroll, Diamondbacks, 138 wRC+.
4. Ivan Herrera, Cardinals, 135 wRC+.
5. Bobby Witt Jr., Royals, 129 wRC+
+ In 409 plate appearances – which includes 353 at-bats – Herrera went into Wednesday’s game with a .283 average, .370 on-base percentage, .456 slugging percentage and .826 OPS.
+ Among hitters age 25 or younger with 400 plate appearances this season, Herrera ranks fourth in the Win Probability Added metric behind Witt Jr., Perdomo and Washington’s James Wood.
+ In the same age and playing-time category, Herrera is No. 8 in the FanGraphs “clutch” metric.
+ Much of that positive “clutch” score is based on Herrera’s .349 batting average with runners in scoring position this year – which ranks 6th among MLB hitters (any age) that have at least 100 PA with RISP. And in high-leverage situations Herrera’s performance is 35 percent above league average.
+ Nine of Herrera’s 16 homers this season have given the Cardinals the lead, and another home run tied the score.
+ Herrera’s impressive plate discipline is highlighted by a 9 percent walk rate and a low 19% strikeout rate.
+ Herrera doesn’t chase a lot of pitches out of the strike zone. But he crushes pitches that land in the strike zone, batting .308 with a .516 slugging percentage, 52% hard-hit rate, 16 home runs and 12 doubles.
+ Herrera doesn’t have a position. This season he has started 80 games at designated hitter, 14 at catcher, and four in left field. By spring training, we’ll know what the team’s plans are for Herrera’s defensive position in 2026.
+ As of now, manager Oli Marmol has some reluctance to put Herrera behind the plate because of the injury risk. Left field is an option. Eventually, first base will likely be an option. But Herrera’s value is loaded into his bat. No matter where you play him, he will deliver a big-smack impact. And he will get on base with the frequency to set up teammates for RBIs.
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STLSportsCentral, catch him weekdays on the “Gashouse Gang” or “Redbird Rush Hour” on KMOX, and Bernie does a weekly “Seeing Red” podcast on the Cardinals with his longtime pal Will Leitch. Bernie joins Katie Woo on the “Cardinal Territory” video-podcast each week, and you can catch a weekly “reunion” segment here at STL Sports with Bernie’s appearance on the Randy Karraker Show every Friday morning at 10:30 am.