Fantasy Baseball 2025: One sleeper from every MLB division primed to break out

NL Central: Ivan Herrera, C, St. Louis Cardinals

Good offensive catchers are few and far between, and Ivan Herrera might be the best offensive catcher that you're unaware of. At 24 years old, Herrera has not yet put up a full season's worth of numbers, but he might be slated to do so in 2025 for the Cardinals with Willson Contreras seemingly making the move to becoming a full-time first baseman.

Herrera split time behind the plate with Pedro Pages in 2024 while Contreras was injured, and over 259 plate appearances he posted a slash line of .301/.372/.428, which was good for an .800 OPS. Among catchers with at least 200 plate appearances, he led all catchers in average, ranked second in OBP, and fourth in OPS.

Herrera's advanced metrics track pretty well with his raw numbers too, as he ranked second among catchers in xBA (.293), ninth in xSLG (.453), and led in xwOBA (.366). He also managed to walk more and strikeout less than the average catcher while displaying above-average plate discipline and contact skills. These are all numbers that should fair well over the course of a full season.

The unfortunate news for Herrera is that his defensive ability lags behind his offensive ability. The good news for fantasy owners is that defense does not matter.

Because of his below average defense, Herrera and Pages will likely continue to split time behind the plate, but Herrera's bat should still get him playing time as a DH when he's not catching. If that's the case, you should be able to pencil Herrera in for upwards of 130 games in 2025.