Bumped Tucker Barnhart off the roster.
Overview
- Rating: 5.53
- 2024 stats: 42 G, 97 AB, .227./290/.320, 70 OPS+, -0.2 bWAR. Also: his first homerun!
- Date of birth: February 24, 1997 (27 years old)
- 2024 earnings: $397,800 (league minimum, via Spotrac)
- 2025 status: On 40-man roster, Pre-Arb, no minor league options remaining.
Introduction
If you don’t remember or never read Herrera’s background story, then please read my 2022 player review and you will get to know the most important baseball related stuff to the player with the longest presence in the organisation: Herrera was signed in July 2013 by a front office under the guidance of Kevin Towers.
That was 11 years ago. Ever since he first hit the team’s prospect lists in 2014, one thing has always been consistent about Jose Herrera: a defence-over-offence-profile.
That doesn’t necessarily mean Jose Herrera is terrific behind the plate, he is not, but it is enough to hang on as a back-up catcher for the moment, although Herrera’s presence on the 26-man roster is a combination of luck, doing just enough and other back-ups not doing what they are expected to do, which is: be better than Jose Herrera.
In 2022 he made the roster behind Carson Kelly because Daulton Varsho’s bat and defence in the outfield was too good to pass on. At the end of the season he lost his bat and the competition to Cooper Hummel, who was shortly after flipped for Kyle Lewis.
In 2023 he made the roster when Carson Kelly first got injured during Spring Training and then stuck on the roster when Gabriel Moreno got injured when Carson Kelly returned from the IL. The Diamondbacks eventually decided to move on from Carson Kelly and stuck with Herrera until Seby Zavala all of a sudden popped up behind the plate, who relegated Herrera to Reno. However, Zavala was subsequently included in the Eugenio Suárez-trade in the off-season.
When the 2024 season began, Herrera saw himself in Reno again, because this time the Diamondbacks decided to start the season with veteran player Tucker Barnhart behind the plate.
2024 review
Even for his and for Reno standards, Herrera was hitting a very pedestrian .260/.351/.362 with just 2 homeruns before Herrera got a call-up to the major leagues on June 22, 2024. The reason was exactly that one what no one was hoping for: Gabriel Moreno got placed on the 10-day IL. A combo tandem of Herrera and Barnhart at catcher might have felt like both Yuji Ide and Sakon Yamamoto on the same Formula 1 team and, indeed, both players hardly helped the Diamondbacks on the offensive side, evidenced by both of them hitting below .500 OPS during Gabby’s absence. Once Moreno returned from his 10 day stint on the IL, Barnhart was the one who got the obvious axe, like 1AZfan1 wrote in that player review, and over the season Barnhart would end behind Herrera’s defence numbers, justifying the decision the Diamondbacks took.
In August Adrian del Castillo surged, but he did not have the relationship with the pitchers nor could he hold up the extraordinary offensive numbers he sported in the first few weeks after his debut. Defensively, Herrera was seen as the safer bet so he got to hang on until the end of the season in the majors. Luckily for Herrera, he was once again better than his alternative for catching duties.
There were a number of impressive highlights of the Venezuelan’s season, amongst them his first major league homerun, which might have contributed to the somewhat positive perception of Herrera’s work by the average SnakePitter. Unfortunately the MLB Film Room did not let me add the clip of Herrera and Pfaadt picking off Garrett Mitchell, but you can find that one back in the nominations for play of the year.
2025 outlook
It would be fitting if Adrian del Castillo would be traded (to the Mariners?) this off-season to complete the story of Herrera’s third season in the majors. With the Diamondbacks not actively shopping on the catcher market and Herrera without any minor league options remaining, it is probably safe to assume that Herrera will be the Diamondbacks’ main back-up catcher on Opening Day 2025. That is nothing to be excited about, but then again, Herrera is not like a box of chocolates. While there are better back-up catchers, there are also worse back-up catchers. In defensive rankings, Herrera was rather middle of the pack, which is just fine for a player who has played 40-50 games per year until now.