3 Cardinals who will not make the Opening Day roster

Tres Barrera will not make St. Louis Cardinals roster as the backup catcher

Early into Spring Training, it was believed there would be some competition for the backup catcher role to Willson Contreras, who the Cardinals signed away from their division-rival Cubs to a 5-year $87.5 million contract this season.

Instead of going with two new catchers to the Cardinals system, the team named Andrew Knizner, who backed up Yadier Molina for the last two seasons, as the experienced backup to Contreras.  While calling Knizner the backup seems the obvious choice given his experience, Marmol seemed excited by the prospects of Tres Barrera.

Marmol was impressed with Barrera’s professionalism and how he handled the pitching staff.  However, his output on offense was comparable to Knizner’s. In 14 games, Knizner had four hits, three runs, two walks, and nine strikeouts. He’s slashed .095/.156/.095 with an OPS of .251. He ground into three double plays and was hit by a pitch one.

Barrera has appeared in 12 games this spring. He’s hit .154/.421/.462 with an OPS of .883. He had two hits, three runs, a double, a home run, six walks, and four strikeouts.

The organization would have had to create a roster spot for Barrera. It would be interesting to see if the team ultimately creates a roster spot for Barrera at some point this season. The organization had expressed hope that Knizner will improve to be the backup option he was during the 2022 season when Molina was away.