photo: Ivan Herrera (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
This article details the selection of The Cardinal Nation’s Player of the Month. Considered were offensive results during May across the entire St. Louis Cardinals system. The winner as well as a group of runners up are highlighted.
Starting with the usual 60 plate appearances requirement, a total of 31 hitters in the system qualified. Eight separated themselves with OPSes above .900, including two over 1.100 and just one other above 1.000.
Considering a number of factors. Memphis catcher Ivan Herrera is our winner.
Demographics
Triple-A Memphis and Double-A Springfield led the way with three finalists apiece while High-A Peoria and Low-A Palm Beach each had just one. (While Noah Mendlinger was promoted from Peoria to Springfield during the month, all but four of his May games were at the higher level.)
A special shout out to three players who are repeat finalists from April – Memphis’ Luken Baker, Springfield’s Chandler Redmond and Michael Curialle from Palm Beach.
In terms of representation, this is the second month in which the Midwest League Chiefs trail the other affiliates. After an April in which Peoria had no hitter with an OPS over .812 (Victor Scott), the club’s second-best hitter in May (after finalist Nathan Church at .902) came in at just .740 (Jeremy Rivas).
Just below at Palm Beach, four hitters had May OPSes over .800 (though only one, Curialle, is a finalist).
Still, it may be time for the Chiefs to receive some offensive reinforcement. As a team, the Chiefs are near the bottom of their circuit in many key hitting stats. For example, Peoria’s team OPS is .663, placing them eighth of 12 MWL teams. That is their same ranking in runs scored. The Chiefs offense is last with just 18 home runs.
Reminder
Please remember, this is NOT the “Player of the Month Among Top Prospects”. Every player in the system has an equal chance, with only their performance during the month used to differentiate the best of the best. Age and level, which are key prospect considerations, are not factors here, either.
We will take two views of the data. The first look will be basic stats, followed by rate stats. Names are listed in the same sequence in both tables, in descending OPS order.
Basic stats
| Hitter | Tm | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Ivan Herrera | Mem | 18 | 87 | 68 | 14 | 24 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 18 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 0.353 | 0.494 | 0.632 | 1.126 |
| Noah Mendlinger | Spr/Peo | 17 | 69 | 60 | 13 | 24 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0.400 | 0.478 | 0.633 | 1.112 |
| Moises Gomez | Mem | 25 | 116 | 109 | 23 | 32 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 23 | 5 | 33 | 1 | 1 | 0.294 | 0.328 | 0.697 | 1.025 |
| Michael Curialle | PB | 25 | 107 | 85 | 21 | 29 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 17 | 28 | 2 | 3 | 0.341 | 0.477 | 0.471 | 0.948 |
| Luken Baker | Mem | 26 | 124 | 103 | 17 | 31 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 29 | 18 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0.301 | 0.403 | 0.534 | 0.937 |
| Mike Antico | Spr | 24 | 106 | 91 | 17 | 27 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 19 | 13 | 22 | 11 | 3 | 0.297 | 0.387 | 0.538 | 0.925 |
| Chandler Redmond | Spr | 24 | 99 | 85 | 17 | 20 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 19 | 13 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 0.235 | 0.333 | 0.588 | 0.921 |
| Nathan Church | Peo | 26 | 112 | 97 | 19 | 34 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 11 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 0.351 | 0.438 | 0.464 | 0.902 |
With a large OPS gap between the five at .948 and below and the three at 1.025 and above, this really becomes a three-horse race.
That is not to say the lower five finalists did not have strong points, because they clearly did.
Curialle’s .341 batting average and .477 on-base percentage are maor positives. Luken Baker drove in a system-best 29 runs (in 26 games) while posting a much-desired .300/.400/.500 slash line.
Mike Antico not only got going on the basepaths with 11 steals (second in the system to Scott’s 15), but the Springfield outfielder also showed decent power (.538 SLG that matched Baker), productivity (19 RBI in 24 games) and reached base at a high rate (.387).
Chandler Redmond kept on popping long balls with his eight the second-most in the system and his season total of xx ranked xxth in the Texas League.
Church continues to be the center of the Peoria offense, leading the High-A club in most stats in May, including hits, runs and all four slash stats.
The final three
If you love power, Moises Gomez is your man. After a dreadful April during which he hit just one home run and struggled to an OPS of .592, the Memphis outfielder exploded in May. Gomez blasted a system-best 12 long balls and his RBI total of 23 (in 25 games) trailed only Baker among Cardinals farmhands.
Gomez’ downside includes a lot of strikeouts and very few walks.
As mentioned above, Mendlinger was promoted in early May and took off in his Double-A debut. Though his plate appearance total was just across the qualification line, he logged a most productive17 RBI in his 17 games. And anyone who hits .400 in any month, anytime cannot be ignored. Mendlinger’s OBP was second to Herrera among finalists and his SLG of .633 was second to Gomez. Mendlinger was also second in OPS.
At the top of the OPS list at 1.126 is Herrera. While his 16 runs driven in over 18 games is impressive, look at the 18 walks against just 15 strikeouts. Anytime a hitter can draw more free passes than striking out, it is truly noteworthy.
Others of note
Though not finalists, among the prospects trending upward during May are Masyn Winn (.799 OPS), Jordan Walker (.761), L.J. Jones (.818), R.J. Yeager (.887), Won-Bin Cho (.827) and Alex Iadisernia (.800).
May offensive strugglers among ranked prospects include Joshua Baez (.672) and Jimmy Crooks (.678).
Advanced stats
| Hitter | Tm | PA | GO/AO | XBH | TB | BABIP | ISO | BB/K | BB% | SO% |
| Ivan Herrera | Mem | 87 | 0.93 | 14 | 43 | 0.431 | 0.279 | 1.2 | 20.7% | 17.2% |
| Noah Mendlinger | Spr/Peo | 69 | 4.00 | 7 | 38 | 0.400 | 0.208 | 0.5 | 5.5% | 10.9% |
| Moises Gomez | Mem | 116 | 0.41 | 18 | 76 | 0.308 | 0.404 | 0.152 | 4.3% | 28.4% |
| Michael Curialle | PB | 107 | 1.55 | 9 | 40 | 0.509 | 0.129 | 0.607 | 15.9% | 26.2% |
| Luken Baker | Mem | 124 | 0.65 | 12 | 55 | 0.329 | 0.233 | 0.783 | 14.5% | 18.5% |
| Mike Antico | Spr | 106 | 0.54 | 10 | 49 | 0.338 | 0.242 | 0.591 | 12.3% | 20.8% |
| Chandler Redmond | Spr | 99 | 1.50 | 14 | 50 | 0.286 | 0.353 | 0.361 | 13.1% | 36.4% |
| Nathan Church | Peo | 112 | 1.08 | 8 | 45 | 0.379 | 0.113 | 1.222 | 9.8% | 8.0% |
As we get into additional stats for the eight finalists, we see that good fortune in the guise of a high BABIP benefited half of the finalists, with Curialle’s .509 for the month among the highest I recall seeing. Herrera was next at .431.
Interestingly, the same two had the top walk rates among the finalists, with Herrera’s 20.7% mark exceptional. It suggests to me a maturing offensively by the 23-year-old.
The top two power hitters, as measured by home runs and isolated power (ISO), Gomez and Redmond, also had the highest strikeout rates, with Gomez’ 28.4% K rate hurting his candidacy.
It is worth noting that Herrera was third in ISO. Despite fewer plate appearances, the catcher had the same total of extra base hits (14) as Redmond, which was two more than Baker and behind only Gomez.
The lowest strikeout rate was an amazing 8% by Church. The Peoria outfielder joins Herrera as the only finalists to walk more than striking out.
When all is said and done, Herrera’s strong May showing in almost all major statistical categories gives The Cardinal Nation’s seventh-ranked prospect the honors as TCN’s Player of the Month.
About the winner
After Herrera was a July 2nd signing in 2016 for a bonus of $200,000, he first suited up for official game action in 2017 and made an immediate impact. He was named a Dominican Summer League All-Star, and The Cardinal Nation named him our 2017 DSL Cardinals Player of the Year.
The Panamanian quickly advanced to the US for 2018, and he was the second-youngest player on the Gulf Coast League Cardinals. His relative youth for his level has remained consistent in his career ever since. Herrera’s stats with his second rookie-level club were excellent, summarized by his 160 wRC+.
After spending his first two seasons in complex leagues (aside from 18 at-bats in the Texas League to close 2018), Herrera joined Low-A Peoria at age 18 in 2019 and quickly established himself as one of the system’s top hitters.
Herrera’s 2019 batting average, OBP and OPS topped all Peoria Chiefs players, with his slugging behind only Nolan Gorman. Remember that this was a season in which he had jumped all the way from the Gulf Coast League the prior year.
After 18 games in the Florida State League to conclude the regular season, Herrera’s 2019 reward was an assignment to the Arizona Fall League prospect showcase. And he took advantage.
When 2020 spring camp closed due to COVID concerns on March 12, Herrera was still with the big-league team. And when summer camp convened at the start of July, Herrera was one of five catchers invited. From there, Herrera headed to Springfield, where he remained all summer.
After 2020 play ended, Herrera was promoted onto the 40-man roster in November. It was a necessary move to protect him from the December Rule 5 draft.
Three years younger than his average Double-A competition in 2021, he still excelled. Herrera was durable, tied for the most games played on his squad with 98. He blasted 17 home runs, drove in 63 and walked 60 times – all ranked second among Springfield hitters. In fact, his walk count was third in the entire Cardinals system and his home runs and RBI ranked sixth.
In 2022 big-league spring camp, Herrera surprisingly received a shorter look than the year before and certainly did not receive an opportunity to try to unseat reserve Andrew Knizner. Despite starter Yadier Molina reporting late, Herrera was given just eight plate appearances before being dispatched to minor league camp. He did what he could in his limited looks, singling and drawing two walks for a .375 OBP.
On May 23, Herrera was called up to St. Louis for the first of four big league stints in 2022, but three of them weren’t even cups of coffee – more like quick sips at best. In duration, his stays were just three days, two-and-a-half weeks, three days and two days, respectively. July 2 was his final St. Louis action in 2022 as he never took the field in his final two times up.
While spending the majority of 2022 with Memphis, Herrera slashed .268/.374/.396/.770. His first-year offense in Triple-A wasn’t bad. Herrera’s wRC+ of 111 meant his offense was 11% better than the International League average, accomplished while he was four years younger than the circuit’s average position player.
In spring 2023, Herrera withdrew from playing for Panama in the World Baseball Classic, but again received just eight at-bats in St. Louis’ camp (.375 BA) before being sent down again.
He will need to sustain his offensive upturn to earn another chance with St. Louis.
How did last month’s winner fare?
One can see in the tables and write up above that Baker had another strong month in May, though not quite the best in the system. The big first baseman continues to make his case to earn a big-league shot, but unfortunately for him, the Cardinals are locked at first base and already have far more designated hitter candidates than at-bats to give them.
Until something changes that is out of his control, Baker will have to be content to serve as the anchor of the Memphis lineup.
What is next?
Check back on Friday for The Cardinal Nation’s May Pitcher of the Month announcement. The Cardinals organization should also name their own selections of May Player and Pitcher of the Month in the upcoming days.
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