Iván Herrera #50

Took English classes while in school in Panama...His mother is a former teacher...Chose uniform No. 4 to wear in the 2019 Arizona Fall League after growing up a fan of catcher Yadier Molina...Signed by Damaso Espino...Resides in Panama City, Panama.

2024

Made the Major League Opening Day roster for the first time in his career. Played in a career-high 72 games, starting 52 at catcher. Posted a .301 BA, the highest of any full season in his professional career...Led all of Major League Baseball with a .450 BA (18-for-40) in Close & Late Situations (min. 40 AB); highest in a single-season by any Cardinals player since 1974 with 40 or more situational at-bats...Recorded an RBI in each of his first two games, both via sacrifice fly. Became the first player in MLB history to collect two sac flies in his first five plate appearances to begin a season without recording a hit...Became the youngest Cardinals catchers to bat cleanup (No. 4) in a home opener dating back to 1900, then hit his first Major League home run off Ryan Weathers (4/4)...Was the first Cardinals catcher to homer in a Cardinals home opener since Yadier Molina in 2008 vs. COL. Was the second-youngest Cardinals catcher (23-for-308) to homer while batting cleanup since Ted Simmons (23.307) on June 12, 1973...First three career home runs were all solo shots before blasting a three-run home run off Nick Sandlin vs. Cleveland (9/21)...Hit a career-high two doubles at Houston (6/4)...Ran off a career-high nine-game hit streak (5/6-18). Finished the season on an eight-game hit streak, 4th-longest active in the National League. Reached base safely in his final 20 starts of the season, second-longest active behind Justin Turner (24) to conclude the season...Batted .298 (19-for-65) in the month of May, second on the Cardinals behind Masyn Winn (.309)...Batted .318 in 31 games after Willson Contreras injury (5/7- 6/18) ranking seventh in the N.L. in batting over that stretch, then landed on the Injured List...Was 5-for-5 in stolen base attempts.

2023

Named 2023 Cardinals Minor League Player of the Year...Was selected to the International League Postseason All-Star Team...Began the season at Memphis (AAA) but was recalled on July 5 following an injury to catcher Andrew Knizner...Made 2023 debut for St. Louis at CWS (7/7) and was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI, establishing a single-game high...Threw out 2-of-7 attempted base stealers in the Majors and was flawless in 82 chances behind the plate...Established a career-high with three runs scored vs. CIN (9/30), joining Willson Contreras as Cardinals catchers with three runs scored in a game...Established Minor League season-highs with 27 doubles and 11 stolen bases...The 11 thefts matched his career totals from his previous five seasons...His .451 on-base percentage would have ranked second among qualifying Triple-A players but was 30 plate appearances short of qualifying...His .951 OBP ranked seventh in the International League...Ranked among Cardinals Minor League leaders in batting (.297, fifth), on-base percentage (.500, first), slugging (.451, 4th), OPS (.951, 2nd), walks (75, 4th) and doubles (27, fifth)...Became the first Cardinals Minor Leaguer to register an on-base percentage of .450 and slugging percentage of .500 in the same season since Gene Roof in 1981 (min. 375 PA) also with the Cardinals Triple-A affiliate...Reached base safely in 91.6% of his games played with a plate appearance at Memphis...Ran off an 11-game hitting streak (.452, 19-42) from 5/11-30; as part of a 19-game on-base streak (5/11-6/10), fourth-longest among Redbirds. 

2022

Began the season in Memphis (AAA) and was selected to St. Louis on 5/23 after playing in 20 games, batting .310 with 2 HR and 13 RBI. Would play in 65 games in the minors and 11 in St. Louis. ..Made his Major League debut at catcher as a defensive replacement vs. Toronto 5/24. Became the 8th Cardinals player to make his MLB debut in 2022. ..Recorded his first at-bat on 6/19 at Boston and was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts. Joined Nick Stavinoha (6/22/08) as the only Cardinals to make their first start at Fenway Park. ..Collected his first RBI on a sacrifice fly game-winning RBI vs. CHI (6/25), coming off the bench. The first Cardinal to record his first RBI on a sac fly since Lars Nootbaar (6/22/21 at DET) and first Cardinals catcher since Glenn Brummer in 1981. ..Recorded his first MLB hit in a start the following day (6/26) with a single off Alec Mills in the 2nd inning. Had a single later in the game for a multi-hit effort. ..Ran off an 11-game hitting streak (16-40, .400) in Memphis from 5/7-6/5 as part of hit in 18 of 19 games span. ..Posted a multi-home run game vs Norfolk (9/9) both off Chris Vallimont; his third career multi-home run game. ..Batted .311 (19-61) with runners in scoring position.

2021

Played the majority of the season with Springfield (AA), where he debuted as the 3rd-youngest player in the Double-A Central on Opening Day behind only Bobby Witt Jr. (KC) and C.J. Abrams (SD)...Combined to bat .229/.342/.403 (84-367) with 13 doubles and a career high 17 home runs in 99 games between Springfield and Memphis (AAA)... Caught 72 games and appeared in 27 games as a designated hitter... Threw out 25.8% (25 CS/97 SB ATT) of attempted basestealers... Hit 17 home runs while playing catcher, T6th-most among all minor league catchers... His seven sacrifice flies shared the organizational lead (Evan Mendoza) and tied for the Double-A Central lead... Also ranked among league leaders in walks (60, 4th) and RBI (63, 6th)... Led Springfield in plate appearances (437) and walks, and co-led in games played (98) with Delvin Perez... Opened the campaign hitting .288/.418/.438 (23-98) in his first 23 games for Springfield... Hit .186/.313/.352 over his next 65 games from 6/4-8/31... Capped off his season batting .362/.393/.638 with a 1.030 OPS in his final 10 games after 9/1... Promoted to Memphis on 9/20... Appeared in the final game of the regular season (10/3) for the Redbirds, going 0-for-4 at catcher vs. Charlotte...Threw out his only attempted basestealer during a strikeout, caught stealing double play while Jordan Hicks was on the mound. 

2020

Practiced at the Alternate Training Site during the COVID19 protocols, but was not listed on the Taxi Squad or Cardinals travel party...Listed as the No. 4 prospect in the Cardinals organization by Baseball America and MLB.com...Played in 16 games for Los Mochis in the Mexican Winter League batting .184 (9-49) with a double and nine RBI while posting a .310 on-base percentage...Added to the Cardinals 40-man roster in November.