Former Pack catcher could be next in line for St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals haven’t had to worry about catcher for nearly 15 years.

Yadier Molina, their current catcher came up in 2004 and has since put together what many believe is a Hall of Fame career. However, at 35 it’s time that the Cards start looking to the future.

It was thought for a few years now that former 2nd round pick out of high school, Carson Kelly, would be the heir apparent as the team’s backstop when Molina retires. But in short stints with the big league club over the past three seasons, Kelly has faltered. He is batting an abysmal .150 with no home runs in his first 107 at-bats and is 2-25 in his most recent stint.

Meanwhile, former NC State catcher Andrew Knizer is tearing up the minors and is knocking at the door. He batted.333 in 27 games with the Springfield Cardinals (AA), and also boasted an on-base percentage of .412 and an OPS of .878.

On May 17th he was promoted to AAA. And what has he done since the promotion?

You guessed it. He’s continued to rake.

Knizer is batting a clean .315 in his first 165 ABs with the AAA Memphis Redbirts. He has a .388 OBP, 2 homers and 23 RBIs. That performance prompted CBS to write this note about him earlier this month:

Knizner had received a callup to the Redbirds in mid-May after Yadier Molina and Carson Kelly both went down with injuries at the big-league level. He’s subsequently proven worthy of the promotion on his own merits. The young backstop has exceeded the impressive .324 average he’d generated with Double-A Springfield, and he’s come within striking distance of the .412 on-base percentage and .467 slugging percentage that made up the remainder of his line. Knizner has been impressive with the bat at every professional stop thus far, and even though Molina presently blocks his path to the big leagues, it isn’t inconceivable that he could eventually surpass Kelly as the veteran’s heir apparent.

You read that right. There is thought that Knizer could dethrone Kelly as the Cardinal’s catcher of the future if he keeps this up. The same kid they thought would have to either get traded or change positions to get his opportunity in the bigs is now one step away from achieving his dream.

We’ll keep a close eye on Knizer over the next few months, as it’s likely he will get promoted to the bigs in Septemeber when rosters expand (if not before).