Cardinals Activate Catcher Yadier Molina from IL

photo: Yadier Molina (Jeff Curry/Imagn)

St. Louis Cardinals press release

The St. Louis Cardinals announced prior to today’s (Saturday, May 8) game that they have activated catcher Yadier Molina (right foot tendon strain) from the 10-day Injured List and optioned catcher Ali Sánchez to Memphis (AAA).

Yadier Molina

Molina was placed on the Injured List on April 27 and missed 11 games while he was sidelined. He was leading the Cardinals in batting (.323), doubles (5), home runs (5) and RBI (14) at the time he was injured.

Sánchez will remain with the team as a Taxi Squad member.

Brian Walton’s take

With this move, the Cardinals finally have activated all intended starting eight position players coming out of spring camp.

While Andrew Knizner “did a very, very good job in Yadi’s absence,” per manager Mike Shildt, the reserve catcher will return to playing infrequently, it appears. Having made a step up in his defensive contributions, Knizner has slashed just .208/.276/.264/.540 in 58 plate appearances this season, however.

Andrew Knizner

With the Cardinals heading on the road following Sunday’s game, the taxi squad will return. So it appears that Sanchez will just stay with the Cardinals rather than head to Memphis for 1-2 days at most. In Molina’s absence, Sanchez appeared in one game, his first with St. Louis, doubling once in three at-bats.

Ali Sanchez


For more

To track the status of the Cardinals’ 40-man roster as well as all players in the system by position and level, check out the Roster Matrix, always free and updated here at The Cardinal Nation. Also included is every player transaction across the full organization all year long.


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Cardinals Minor League Transaction Roundup – May 8, 2021


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Brian Walton can be reached via email at brian@thecardinalnation.com. Follow Brian on Twitter.

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