Cardinals place veteran infielder, former three-time All-Star on injured list

The Cardinals announced today that infielder Matt Carpenter has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right oblique strain, retroactive to April 2. In a corresponding move, catcher Pedro Pages was recalled from Triple-A Memphis and will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.

It’s unclear when or how Carpenter hurt himself. He last played on Monday but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s been hurt for days since he’s only been in a part-time bench role for the Cards anyhow. It’s also unclear how long he’ll be out of action but more information will perhaps be forthcoming in the near future.

The mysterious injury to Carpenter allows the club to add a third catcher to their active roster. Willson Contreras was hit on the hand by a pitch yesterday and is out of today’s lineup with Iván Herrera starting. Brendan Donovan was also hit by a pitch yesterday, twice, and is also getting a day off today. That might leave the club a bit short-handed in their home opener today as the four position players not in the lineup today are Contreras, Donovan, Pages and Brandon Crawford, who has never played a position other than shortstop in his career.

Regardless of the circumstances, the result is that Pages gets called to the big leagues for the first time. Now 25, he was added to the club’s 40-man roster in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. Long considered a strong defensive catcher, he took a step forward at the plate in 2023.

He got 497 plate appearances at the Double-A level last year and drew a walk in 11.9 percent of them, while only striking out at a 19.3 percent clip. He also hit 16 home runs and slashed .267/.362/.443 for a wRC+ of 113.