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The St. Louis Cardinals lost catcher Willson Contreras to a fractured finger when he was hit with a 95 mph four-seam fastball from the Minnesota Twins’ Pablo Lopez. The pitch tailed inside and caught Contreras on the right middle finger. Now the Cardinals expect to be without their catcher for at least three weeks, according to St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol, per an MLB.com team report. Fortunately for the Cardinals, Contreras won’t need surgery on the broken digit.
While the team hopes the 32-year-old backstop will return this season, Marmol acknowledged that Contreras will need to be shut down for about three weeks for the finger to fully heal. He'll then likely go on a rehab assignment in the minors before rejoining the big league club, according to MLB.com.
St. Louis recalled former Minor League Player of the Year Ivan Herrera to fill in for the three-time All-Star behind the plate. Herrera was with the Cardinals earlier this season before being optioned to the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Memphis. Pedro Pages will split catching duties with Herrera while Contreras is on the shelf.
Both Herrera and Pages are inferior offensively to Contreras with Herrara posting a .710 OPS and an OPS+ of 99 in 55 games for St. Louis this season while Pages has a .658 OPS and an OPS+ of just 83 in 49 games.
The Cardinals will miss Willson Contreras for the postseason stretch run
After spending the first seven years of his career with the Chicago Cubs – and winning the World Series with Chicago in his rookie season – Contreras joined the division rival Cardinals on a five-year, $87.5 million deal prior to the 2023 season. He had big shoes to fill in St. Louis, taking over catching duties from nine-time Gold Glove winner Yadier Molina, who retired after the 2022 season. Last year Contreras had 20 home runs and 67 RBI with a .826 OPS and an OPS+ of 123 in 125 games for the Cardinals.
The nine-year veteran has been productive at the plate again this season. He has 17 doubles, 15 home runs, 36 RBI and 48 runs scored with a .848 OPS and an OPS+ of 136 in 84 games so far in 2024. He’s up to 3.1 bWAR on the season.
The move to the 10-day injured list is Contreras’ second IL stint this year. He was forced to miss time earlier in the season after a freak accident when his left forearm was broken after he was hit with a swing by the New York Mets’ J.D. Martinez. The catcher was out of action from early May until he returned to the lineup on June 24.
Losing Contreras to injury for most of September is a bad break for St. Louis as the team still holds out hope of reaching the postseason this year. Despite starting pitcher Miles Mikolas’ confidence that the team can win 17 straight games if necessary, the Cardinals are a long shot to reach the playoffs. The team is 10.5 games behind the Brewers in the NL Central and six games back in the National League Wild Card race.
