Cardinals Prized Prospect Showing Pop in Dominican Winter League

Shaking off a slow start in the Dominican Winter League and beginning to again show the power that he flashed in September with the St. Louis Cardinals, rookie catcher Leo Bernal smashed a grand slam on Monday night to move into a tie for the league lead in home runs.

Bernal, 22, drilled a pitch from former Padres Minor League right-hander Jackson Goddard over the wall in right field in the first inning. Bernal’s grand slam lifted the Estrellas Orientales past the Gigantes del Cibao 6-3 in Dominican League action.

For the 6-foot, 245-pound switch-hitting Bernal, it was his fourth home run in 16 games played so far in the Dominican Winter League. He is tied with Chicago Cubs utility fielder Kevin Alcantra, former Mariners first baseman Jose Marmolejos and Cincinnati Reds utility fielder Noelvi Marte for the league lead with four homers. Also, his 12 RBI thus far rank fourth in the Dominican Winter League.

After taking little time off following the end of the MLB season with the Cardinals, Bernal has mostly struggled at the plate before recently locating his power stroke. Thus far, he is just 8 for 50 (.160) with two doubles, four home runs, 12 RBI and eight runs scored. Bernal has racked up 15 strikeouts and has walked eight times.

Still classified as a rookie heading into the 2027 season, Bernal is ranked as the No. 4 prospect in the Cardinals Minor League system and at No. 80 overall in baseball.

Bernal, a member of the Cardinals since signing with St. Louis for $680,000 in 2021 out of Panama, put himself in position to make his MLB debut in 2026 with a strong season at Triple-A. In 101 games, he had 19 doubles, two triples, 16 homers and 77 RBI.

Bernal got his promotion to the big leagues on Aug. 30, and he wasted no time in making a splash by driving in two runs in his first MLB game and smashing a two-run homer in his second game.

In 24 games with the Cardinals – 20 as a catcher and four as a first baseman – Bernal hit .284 with a .333 on-base percentage, while slugging .474 and compiling an .807 OPS. He smashed five homers – including a game-winner against the Nationals in his final swing of the season at Busch Stadium – and added three doubles. He broke several Cardinals records for RBIs by a player in his first MLB games and finished with 21 runs batted in in 24 games.

Defensively, he flashed an 85.8 mph average speed on his throws to second and third base. His pop time of 1.88 seconds ranked in MLB’s 86th percentile. However, he threw out just four of 15 MLB base stealers in his time behind the plate.

Bernal played well enough that Cardinals manager declared him the team’s starting catcher when Spring Training opens.