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Fresh off the first three-homer game by a Cardinals catcher in more than 130 seasons, Cardinals catcher Ivan Herrera is going to try something new as he throws from his knees this week to see if that gives him a toehold on more playing time this year.

“We need to see it,” manager Oliver Marmol said Wednesday morning. “See if this gives him a better shot at controlling the running game more than anything.”

During the opening homestand of the season, a rotation developed at the catcher position — not from game to game but within games and from situation to situation. In the seventh inning of Monday’s extra-inning loss, Marmol swapped Herrera for Pedro Pages because they had the lead and the Los Angeles Angels had a run of base-stealers coming up that the Cardinals wanted to limit on the bases.

Herrera started Wednesday batting .364 and then hit three home runs for his first multi-homer game and had six RBIs. His first homer tied the game and his second gave the Cardinals their first lead, in the sixth inning. He then hit a three-run homer in the eighth to cap the scoring in his team’s 12-5 victory.

But, opponents are 5-for-5 in steal attempts against him at catcher this season and the thieving spree goes back to last season, at 60 for 64. Siding with defense for three innings meant Pages got two at-bats as Monday night drifted into an extra-innings loss.

Through the first five games, the catchers both appeared in four of them.

Marmol talked candidly about the split-shift catcher all week and recently acknowledged that he doesn’t know how the position will play out. Asked Wednesday if both stay healthy could they each see 130 appearances this year by splitting games, Marmol shook his head.

“I hope not,” he said. “That wouldn’t be my (preference).”

He elaborated this past week: “I’m not sure just yet. I’m going to be as honest as possible. It’s a tough decision constantly that you agonize over whether the at-bat is going to come up again and is it worth three innings of defense, right? You look at where you are in the lineup. If you’re in a different part of the lineup you let it ride. When four out of five of those guys can take a bag and you’ve got a one-run lead, it makes the decision for you.”

Herrera can only reshape that decision with better throws.

Which brings him to a knee.

During spring training, Herrera began throwing from his knees instead of springing to his feet in an attempt to hasten his throw to second base. He spent much of the past offseason strengthening his arm and adjusting his mechanics. At one point he visited Driveline, an independent baseball performance company, and went through a program similar to a pitcher trying to add velocity to his fastball. Herrera felt some positive improvements, but runners still took second on him. When he threw from a knee, it gave him a better chance.

Herrera said he’s becoming more comfortable with it.

That is why the Cardinals have set this road trip as the time to try.

“Now we just have to take it into a game and see what it looks like,” Marmol said. “It seems quicker. His body moves a little better and arm slot’s a lot better from his knees. We’ll see if that gives him an opportunity to control the running game better than he has.”

Herrera tried at least one throw during a spring game from his knees and had a good time. He experimented often with that throw between innings after warming up the pitcher and got more familiar with it. He got to see it practice during this series against the Angels as both of their catchers throw from the knees. On Saturday, against the Twins, Herrera made a throw that appeared to nab the runner and the Cardinals challenged the safe call. There was not a replay angle for officials in New York to overturn the call at Busch.

Marmol said Herrera’s throw down (or “pop time”) was 1.97 seconds.

That works, the manager said.

That is what Willson Contreras averaged at catcher for the Cardinals in 2024.

Herrera, according to Statcast, averaged 1.99 seconds but his throws varied and sometimes tailed. What the Cardinals want to see is more consistency from throw to throw from their catcher, and then he’ll see the later innings.

“He’s definitely determined to improve,” Marmol said. “I’m invested in him improving. I want to see that part of his game improve. The better he gets at that — we have a really good player on our hands. It’s coming alongside him and wanting to see this get better and better every time out.”

Holliday scouting

As the Cardinals prepare to make the No. 5 overall pick in the upcoming July draft — higher than they’ve selected since taking J.D. Drew fifth in 1998 — assistant general manager and draft director Randy Flores is logging his usual miles crisscrossing and cross-checking the country and viewing the top available talent for the second consecutive year.

His journeys recently took him to see a friend in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Flores is one of several Cardinals’ reps to see Ethan Holliday, Matt’s son, in person this spring. Ethan, one of the top high school hitters in the country, is a candidate to go first overall in the draft, like his older brother Jackson did in 2022. Jackson Holliday, Matt and Leslee Holliday’s oldest child, is now a starting infielder for the Orioles and batting .316 going into Wednesday’s games.

A left-handed batting shortstop and third baseman who projects to hit for power, Ethan is already 6-foot-4 at 18, and he grew up around Busch Stadium during his father’s Cardinals Hall of Fame career. In January, adidas announced Ethan, a senior at Stillwater High, as its first name-image-likeness (NIL) baseball player.

The Cardinals used the seventh overall pick this past July on infielder JJ Wetherholt, and he’s bounced from college to Class AA Springfield already. The top five pick — which the Cardinals scored in the draft lottery despite a winning record in ’24 — gives them a rare chance to acquire another high-upside talent. In Baseball America’s first mock draft of the season, the industry magazine projected pitchers going in the first three picks and the Cardinals, at No. 5, selecting Holliday.

There is one plot twist, however: Colorado, Matt’s first team, owns pick No. 4.