Veteran Cardinals Catcher Elects Free Agency After Short Stint In St. Louis

The backstop will attempt to find a new home this offseason

Scott Neville | Oct 16, 2023

Veteran Cardinals Catcher Elects Free Agency After Short Stint In St. Louis /

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St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals will have to add one more position to their shopping list this winter after one member of their organizational depth has decided to part ways with the team.

Cardinals catcher Tres Barrera elected free agency on Friday according to the MiLB transaction log, leaving the club a little short-handed at a key position.

The 29-year-old backstop lasted just one season with the organization and logged just six games with St. Louis. The rest of his time was spent at Triple-A Memphis, where he showed impressive pop but struggled to make contact consistently.

Barrera hit .213 with 14 extra-base hits including seven home runs, 33 RBIs and a .649 OPS in 60 games for the Redbirds.

The former Washington Nationals sixth-round pick in the 2016 Major League Baseball Draft made his big-league debut in D.C. but never latched on, leading him to sign a minor-league deal with St. Louis last offseason. Now he's looking to do the same with a new team, hoping that he can find a bigger role.

As it stands now, the Cardinals have catchers Willson Contreras, Andrew Knizner and Iván Herrera on the 40-man roster. That trio is good enough to enter next season with but they will need to add another backstop to aid Triple-A Memphis and serve as fourth on the Cardinals' depth chart.

More MLB: Here's Six Potential Cardinals Targets On Remaining Playoff Teams

Published Oct 16, 2023

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the St. Louis Cardinals for FanNation's "Inside The Cardinals" on Sports Illustrated. Before starting "Inside The Cardinals", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." After a few months as the top Major League Baseball site in the program, Neville sought expansion and pitched "Inside The Cardinals," one of the newest additions to FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group. The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Cardinals" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu