Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras has suffered a finger fracture and is headed for the injured list, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Per Goold, catcher Ivan Herrera is expected to replace Contreras on the active roster Sunday. Contreras suffered the injury when he was hit by a pitch during the club’s loss to the Twins Saturday evening and a specific timetable for his return is not yet available. Per Goold, Contreras is set to undergo scanning on the injured finger on Monday that could help determine the length of his absence.
While it’s not yet clear exactly how long Contreras figures to be out due to the injury, the news is nonetheless an incredibly frustrating development for the Cardinals. The 32-year-old has been among the club’s most reliable hitters this season with an excellent .263/.379/.470 slash line (141 wRC+) this season but has struggled to stay on the field between this latest injury and a broken arm suffered back in May when he was struck with a backswing after St. Louis coaches suggested he move closer to the plate to improve his pitch framing. With just over a month remaining in the regular season, a lengthy absence for Contreras could spell the end of his 2024 campaign.
Even if Contreras manages to return before the year comes to an end, it’s a worrisome omen for the Cardinals’ dwindling playoff aspirations. The club dropped to a 64-65 record on Saturday that puts them below .500 and in third place in the NL Central behind both the Brewers and Cubs. Given Milwaukee’s near-insurmountable 10.5-game lead in the division, however, the club’s playoff hopes have been more focused on the wild-card in recent weeks. Unfortunately, the Cardinals are now six games back of the Braves for the final NL wild-card spot and would not only need to make up that deficit but also surpass the Cubs, Giants and Mets in the standings to claim a spot in the postseason.
Much of the club’s struggles this year have been due to an offense that has been rather lackluster this season. The club’s collective wRC+ of 97 is 18th in the majors, down from 13th with a 103 wRC+ when compared to last year’s 91-loss team. Improvements in the club’s rotation have helped to make the club more competitive than they were last year, but improving the starting staff’s collective ERA from 5.08 last year to 4.46 this season has not been enough to overcome the struggles of key offensive players from last year’s club like Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado and Nolan Gorman.
On an offense that’s seen only Alec Burleson, Masyn Winn and Brendan Donovan post numbers more than 5% better than league average by wRC+ among its qualified hitters, it’s hard to overstate the importance of Contreras as a middle-of-the-order power bat for the Cardinals. With the veteran backstop now sidelined for the foreseeable future, the club will now need to hope for improvements from pieces like Arenado and Lars Nootbaar down the stretch to keep what little playoff hopes the club has alive.
They’ll also need young catchers Herrera and Pedro Pages to step up and perform in Contreras’s absence. Pages, 25, has been a suitable back-up for Contreras this year with a .250/.299/.364 slash line that’s good for an 86 wRC+, and his .326/.356/.442 slash line since the All-Star break is encouraging, though it comes in a limited sample size of just 14 games. That leaves Herrera as perhaps the better bet to draw regular starts behind the plate. The 24-year-old youngster has seen action in parts of three big league seasons but got his first extended look earlier this year and performed solidly with a .279/.340/.378 slash line (105 wRC+) and excellent peripheral numbers such as a 9.0% barrel rate that suggest the possibility of positive regression in his future. Herrera has continued to hit quite well since he returned to Triple-A early last month, with a .280/.402/.473 slash line in 112 trips to the plate since being sent back down.
