St. Louis Cardinals Minor Leaguer to Be Added to First MLB Roster Since 2021

A left-knee injury suffered by St. Louis Cardinals catcher Ivan Herrera will require a stay on the injured list, leaving the club to turn to the Triple-A ranks to fill the empty spot at the position.

Tests on Herrera’s knee showed no structural damage. However, manager Oliver Marmol told Buster Olney of ESPN that Herrera still will require a trip to the IL.

#STLCards manager Oli Marmol on Ivan Herrera to @Buster_ESPN : "Everything came back clean, which is good. It could have been a lot worse. So, he'll miss some time, but we're definitely not looking at anything serious. He'll go on the IL, but it could have been a bad situation."
— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) April 7, 2025

That means that the Cardinals will select the contract of Yohel Pozo and add him to the 40-man roster to back up Pedro Pages at catcher, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Ivan Herrera will head to St. Louis on Monday for additional rounds of exams and testing. He'll go on the 10-day IL.

He felt better walking around tonight; an MRI did not show any damage to the left knee.

A 40-player spot will have to be opened for Pozo. https://t.co/WLgXRbiVaa
— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) April 7, 2025

Pozo, a 27-year-old Venezuelan, has had a long career but only a short stay in the major leagues since the Rangers signed him as a free agent in 2013. He spent seven years in the Texas farm system, including a successful season in 2021 when he hit .337 in 77 games at Triple-A Round Rock, then appeared in 21 games with the majors that season.

With Texas, he hit .284 (21-of-74) with one homer and nine runs driven in.

Pozo returned to Round Rock in 2022 and hit .320 but became a free agent after that season. The past two seasons, he played with the Athletics’ Triple-A Las Vegas affiliate, batting over .300 each season and clubbing a total of 33 homers and 135 RBIs.

He signed with the Cardinals in the offseason and in five games at AAA Memphis, Pozo hit .333 (7-of-21) with two homers and six RBIs.

The Cardinals undoubtedly will hope further tests don’t show additional problems with the knee of Herrera, who is off to a blistering start to the season with a batting line of .400/.455/1.100/1.555. His injury, however, will give the Cardinal a chance to get a closer look at Pozo and determine his major league abilities.

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