Iván Herrera’s Scorching Start Has Proven Cardinals Right

The St. Louis Cardinals have one of the brightest young sluggers in baseball right now.

St. Louis moved Willson Contreras to first base in order to open the door for Iván Herrera to have a bigger role. Clearly, that was the right call. After yet another huge game on Monday night, he’s slashing .426/.484/.815 with five homers, 20 RBIs, six doubles, 14 runs scored, and a 1.299 OPS in 16 games played. 

Throughout the offseason, there was a lot of buzz about the possibility of the Cardinals trading veterans away to open up the door for young guys. Even though the Cardinals didn’t make any big trades, the door has opened for Herrera and he looks like a star of the future for St. Louis.

The Cardinals entered the 2024 season with almost no buzz and certainly very few positive headlines. It seemed like big changes were on the way in John Mozeliak's final year as the team's president of baseball operations but the team has surpassed expectations through roughly one-third of the 2025 MLB season.

St. Louis took blew out the MLB-best Detroit Tigers on Monday, 11-4, and now has a 27-21 record. The Cardinals are just one game behind the Chicago Cubs in the standings and Herrera has been a big reason why when he has been healthy.

If the Cardinals can keep up this recent stretch, there's no reason to believe they can't make a run at a playoff spot.