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Can Leo Bernal Finally Bring Stability, Pop to Cardinals' Catching Position?
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- Can Leo Bernal Finally Bring Stability, Pop to Cardinals' Catching Position?
Growth, as St. Louis Cardinals' manager Oliver Marmol pointed out repeatedly over the final month of the 2026 season, can be measured in a variety of ways.
One way, of course, is the standings – an area where the Cardinals fell back a win from 2025 (78-84) to 2026 (77-85), one that was somewhat expected with the widespread youth on the roster and the club selling off veteran pitchers JoJo Romero and Dustin May for prospects at the MLB Trade Deadline.
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Instead, the Cardinals tried to evaluate areas of growth in non-traditional ways in a non-traditional season in St. Louis.
Growth was having a defined core group of players – Alec Burleson, Jordan Walker, JJ Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera, Masyn Winn, Michael McGreevy, Kyle Leahy and Riley O'Brien – take major steps in their games and evolve into building blocks.
Cardinals' rookie catcher Leo Bernal needed just 24 games to drive in 21 runs in September. -- Jeff Le-Imagn Images
Growth was seeing Leo Bernal, Joshua Baez, Quinn Mathews, Cooper Hjerpe and Nathan Church live up to the hype that followed them from the Minor Leagues and show signs they can be depended on going forward.
Growth was Andre Pallante and Gordon Graceffo shaking off the struggles of 2025 and showing the fortitude to change the trajectory of their careers.
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"This is a really young group, but there's been a lot of progress with so many of these guys," Marmol said. "You can go up and down the lineup and you see growth from so many of our guys. Then, go to the rotation and what McGreevy, Pallante and Leahy did this season, and the bullpen as well. Our staff has really enjoyed pouring into that group. They are hungry for information and they want to be coaches, so that's made it a lot of fun."
However, as president of baseball operation Chaim Bloom reminds, the Cardinals still have major gulfs between them and MLB's top teams. The National League champion Brewers, after all, finished 26 games ahead of St. Louis and battered the Cards in 11 of 13 head-to-head meetings. Much more growth is needed for the Cards to better navigate the difference the rebuilding and contending.
With growth being the focus, let's look back at the performances by individual players in the 2026 season and how they will figure into the Cards' plans going forward in 2027 and beyond:
Player name:Leo Bernal
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Age:22
How acquired:Signed by the Cardinals as an international free agent on Jan. 15, 2021 for $680,000
2026 statistics:(With Cardinals) 24 games, .284/.333/.474/.807, 12 runs, 27 hits, three doubles, five home runs, 21 RBI, 25 strikeouts, seven walks, zero stolen bases in one try. (At Triple-A Memphis) 101 games, .278/.363/.468/.831, 67 runs, 104 hits, 19 doubles, two triples, 19 home runs, 77 RBI, 86 strikeouts, 51 walks, nine stolen baes.
Key numbers:Bernal needed just 24 MLB games to drive in 21 runs for the Cardinals. He had seven multi-RBI games, including two RBI in each of his first two games, two in his Busch Stadium finale on Sept. 20 and three in the 2026 finale on Sept. 27.
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Looking back to 2026:The Cardinals promoted rookie catcher Jimmy Crooks first – partly to see what the lefty could do at the MLB level and partly to allow Leo Bernal opportunities to run pregame meetings with pitchers and game-planning sessions with coaches. Bernal was promoted to the big leagues on Aug. 31 and he made the best of his opportunities at the big-league level. He drove in two runs in his first MLB game and blasted his first big-league homer in his second game. He hit a homer on his final swing at Busch Stadium and finished with a three-RBI game in the season finale. Bernal's underlying metrics show a hitter who was rarely fooled at the plate and he consistently hit the ball hard. His average exit velocities (92.6 mph), hard-hit rate (55.7 percent) and launch angle sweet spot rate (41.4 percent) would have ranked in MLB's top 75th percentile if he had enough at bats behind the plate. Bernal also showed stellar arm strength (85.6 mph) and a quick pop time (1.88) and should be able to control the running game better than Cards' catchers have in the past four seasons.
Looking forward to 2027:Marmol said that Bernal did enough over the final month of the season to go into Spring Training as the starting catcher for the Cardinals. Undoubtedly, he is a foundational piece the team will build around for years to come. His ability to drive the baseball and handle the game prep and pitch-calling duties give the Cardinals their best catching prospect since Hall of Famer Yadier Molina retired following the 2022 season. The Cardinals coaching staff were impressed with how composed and calm Bernal was at the plate and they think he can be a 25-homer hitter in the years to come.
Denton's analysis:In a season where the Cardinals hoped to better identify their core players going forward, Bernal worked his way into that group with some stellar play in September. With the glowing endorsement of Molina, Bernal is a player they hope can finally bring some consistency to their catching position. In no way did the MLB moment ever seem too big for Bernal – not even at Dodger Stadium where he made his MLB debut and had four RBI in his first two games. Bernal hit for power and average at Triple-A Memphis over 101 games and then proved he could do the same against MLB pitching. Could the 22-year-old Bernal finally be the player who fills the enormous legacy left behind when Molina retired? The Cards certainly hope that he can.
