Though the St. Louis Cardinals missed out on the playoffs again this season, they had the perfect opportunity to see what some of their top prospects could do in the big leagues.
St. Louis appears to be on the right track after exceeding expectations this season, and the emergence of young stars like JJ Wetherholt, Jordan Walker and Alec Burleson highlights its bright future. With the Cardinals out of the mix for the postseason late in the year, they also got to see plenty of their top prospects in action down the stretch. Among the 13 rookies who made their debut for St. Louis, Leo Bernal was one of the most impressive and impactful rookies.
"Of the 13 rookies who made their big league debuts this year, perhaps no one made more of an immediate ‘Whoa, this guy is here to stay' impact than catcher Leo Bernal," MLB.com's Will Leitch wrote on Monday. "From his first second in the bigs, Bernal looked like he’d been playing there for a decade, even wowing Cardinals catching legend Yadier Molina. It is fair to say that Bloom noticed."
Bernal could earn a role in the Cardinals' crowded catcher room
Though Bernal didn't make history in his debut like powerhouse Joshua Báez, he still proved his worth and was a great addition down the stretch. The 22-year-old catcher slashed .284/.333/.474 with 27 hits, 21 runs batted in and five home runs in just 24 games. Bernal's impressive play even caught the eye of Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom, who praised him and, when asked, mentioned Bernal could have changed the team's plans at catcher moving forward.
“That was about as good of a use from a player of a September cameo I have ever seen in my career,” Bloom said, per Leitch. “Our Minor League guys were saying this guy is playing at a really high level right now. He is on it. The details of the game, the way that he plays that position, things that will never show up in the box score -- he’s doing all of it. So you don't want to put too much on a month of big league baseball for anybody. But that was pretty darn impressive.”
As Bloom said, you don't want to bank too much on one month of baseball, but with that being said, Bernal's impressive play has definitely given the Cardinals more to think about at catcher. Even with how crowded the catcher position is for St. Louis, Bernal should be able to earn some playing time.
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