While Ivan Herrera is clearly one of the most important players on the Cardinals and has appeared in all 80 games this season, he has yet to show any progress in controlling the running game. Base stealers are a perfect 22 of 22 against Herrera and the Cards pitching staff in 2026.
By easily swiping second base, Ruiz put himself into scoring position and he scored a couple of pitches later when Graham Pauley doubled down the first base line to break a scoreless tie.
Even worse news for the Cardinals was that Ruiz steal of second was the 45th in a row against catcher Ivan Herrera over the past two-plus seasons.
Despite undergoing arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies from his painful right elbow and spending much of his offseason working to improve his throwing mechanics, Herrera hasn’t had much success in terms of throwing out base runners in 2026.
In 30 games behind the plate in 2026, Herrera hasn’t committed an error and hasn’t surrendered a pass ball, but he has also hasn’t thrown out any of the 22 runner stealing bases against him.
When combined with the 15 success base stealers in 2025 when Herrera was behind the plate, he hasn’t thrown out a runner since 2024. Herrera last threw out a base runner on Sept. 1, 2024, when Former Yankee star outfielder Juan Soto tried to take second base.
Herrera still a key cog for Cards
Herrera, of course, is one of the most important players on the Cardinals and the team has done everything in its power to keep him in the lineup daily. Herrera, 26, has split time between catching roughly two days a week and serving as a designated hitter the rest of the time and he is the only Cardinals player to appear in all 80 games this season.
Herrera’s 21 hit by pitches are far and away the most in MLB, and they have played a major role in him ranking tied for second in the National League in on base percentage (.402) with Pittsburgh’s Bryan Reynolds, trailing only Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani (.412). Herrera has added 13 doubles, a triple, 10 homers and 35 RBI while hitting .258, slugging .415 and posting an .816 OPS.
After catching surprising starter Andre Pallante most of the season, Herrera was at DH on Saturday night because he had caught a night earlier. Pallante was moved up in the rotation when the club decided to skip veteran right-hander Dustin May, who has been struggling with low back tightness since his one-hit, complete-game gem against the Padres on June 15.
Pedro Pages, who lost his primary catching job because of his struggles at the plate, has been the Cards’ best thrower from behind the plate. In 346 1/3 innings behind the plate, Pages has thrown out 14 of 44 base stealers – one of MLB’s best caught stealing percentages.
Jimmy Crooks, who was promoted to the Cardinals on May 29 after starring at Triple-A Memphis, went into Saturday night’s game having not thrown out a base stealer this season. Base stealers have been successful on all five of their tries with Crooks behind the plate.
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