The St. Louis Cardinals' catching position has been in limbo since the retirement of Yadier Molina following the 2022 season. The Redbirds signed former Chicago Cubs backstop Willson Contreras to be Molina’s successor. Still, during his tenure, the Cardinals moved him to first base, and Ivan Herrera and Pedro Pages took over duties behind the plate.

Since then, Herrera has struggled defensively, throwing out six would-be base stealers on 81 attempts. Meanwhile, offensively, Herrera has a .282/.366/.431 slashline at the major league level as of Wednesday. The Cardinals' right-handed slugger did undergo elbow surgery in the offseason to clean up his throwing arm, and while he has yet to be tested in his two starts behind the plate, the jury is still out on his defensive improvements this season.

Pages has struggled offensively at times, but has been regarded as a good handler of the pitching staff, understanding pitchers' strengths and hitters' weaknesses. One of the new skills that teams are asking their catchers to use is the ABS system effectively, and flip the counts in favor of the pitcher. Pages, who was winless in his challenges in the first four games of the season, won his first challenge behind the plate on Wednesday afternoon, and maybe that can start a streak for the Cardinals backstop.

All while this is happening, Cardinals No. 8 prospect Jimmy Crooks, according to MLB Pipeline, is on an absolute tear for the Memphis Redbirds after missing the Opening Day roster. Crooks went 4-for-4 with a homer and double in Wednesday’s Triple-A game and is 8-for-15 with three home runs in the first four games of the season.

While it is still early, and Pages’ defensive prowess might give him a bit of a longer leash, if Crooks keeps this up, it can only be a matter of time before he gets another shot at the big leagues.

The left-handed-hitting catcher got a taste of the big leagues last season, but hit .133 with one home run in 15 games. The Cardinals' third catcher on the roster, Yohel Pozo, has not made an appearance in the first two series of the year, and it would be hard to see the team carrying three catchers on the roster. Pozo, a strong power bat off the bench, has not been needed quite yet for the Cardinals this season, and if it takes much longer, he could be the roster casualty to make space for Crooks.

Crooks is not the only top-10 prospect that the Cardinals have, with Leonardo Bernal and Rainel Rodriguez ranked at No. 6 and No. 3, respectively. The organization is rich in backstops, and Molina has returned to work with the catchers and develop those top prospects into everyday players in MLB.

As of now, the Cardinals likely won’t make any changes to their roster, but if Crooks keeps the pressure on, he may just force the hand of Chaim Bloom and Oliver Marmol to decide on who will be doing the catching in St. Louis.