ST. LOUIS -- When he awoke on Friday morning, Iván Herrera hoped that there would be enough improvement in his strained left hamstring that he would have been able to forgo the MRI testing that was scheduled for later in the day.
Not only had that pain not diminished, but the diagnosis was not a promising one for the talented catcher/designated hitter and a Cardinals club about to enter one of its most critical stretches of the season.
Herrera was deemed to have a Grade 2 strain in the hamstring that is expected to keep him out “from two to six weeks,” Herrera said. The injury hit just as the Cardinals are about to play 13 of their next 16 games against teams from the National League Central Division, including seven against the rival Cubs.
“It’s unfortunate because he’s been doing a really nice job of swinging a really hot bat and being a real threat offensively, so we’re going to miss that,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “It’s an opportunity for someone else to step in. It’s part of 162 [games] and it’s not always going to be perfect. It’ll give more opportunities for [Nolan Gorman] and others to step in there [as the DH] and show what they’re capable of, and that will be fun to watch. Not ideal, but it’s all good.”
Herrera has been one of the Cardinals’ most productive hitters despite missing a little over a month early in the season with a bone bruise in his left knee. In 42 games, he’s posted a slash line of .320/.392/.533 with eight home runs and 36 RBIs. Five of his eight homers have either tied games or given the Cardinals a lead.
Herrera said he felt a pull in his left hamstring following a sixth-inning single in Thursday’s Game 1 victory over the White Sox. He stayed in the game to catch the bottom of the sixth, but he was removed in the eighth inning when the pain persisted.
He said being out of the lineup is double frustrating for him. His mother, Dona, traveled from his native Panama City, Panama, to take in this weekend’s series against the Reds.
“Man, I’m more frustrated that my mom is here and I promised her I was going to hit a homer for her,” he said. “I tried twice [in Chicago], and it didn’t work out. But she’s been here for some good ones. She was here [in 2022] when I got called up for the first time. This is just a rock on my path, and I feel like I’m going to come back stronger like I did before.”
The Cardinals promoted red-hot infielder Thomas Saggese, the No. 5-ranked prospect in the system, per MLB Pipeline, to replace Herrera on the roster. In June, Saggese had gone 21-for-50 (.420) with three doubles, a home run and 11 RBIs. In 42 games at Triple-A Memphis this season, he has slashed .317/.402/.445 with five home runs and 24 RBIs. The 23-year-old infielder, who can help the Cardinals at second base, third and shortstop, hit .341 (14-for-41) with four doubles and a homer in 14 games at the big league level early in the season, partly when Gorman was out with a mild hamstring strain.
“It’s kind of a survival day when it comes to allowing some of these guys to have a day off,” said Marmol, who did not start Willson Contreras and Nolan Arenado Friday after the club played its sixth doubleheader of the season a day earlier in Chicago. “They’ve gone hard, the doubleheaders have been real, and this stretch has been a grueling one, so we have to honor that. That allows [Saggese] to jump in.”