The Cardinals are set to have switch-hitting catching prospect Leo Bernal and right-handed pitching prospect Hancel Rincon join them Tuesday in Los Angeles when they start a three-game series against the Dodgers, a source told the Post-Dispatch on Monday.
The moves would come on the day active rosters across the majors expand from 26 players to 28 and ahead of a nine-game, three-city road trip.聽
It appears the Cardinals are set to make room for Bernal to get steady innings in the majors. Rookie catcher Jimmy Crooks was optioned to Class AAA Memphis, per the transactions page on the Cardinals鈥 official website.
A steady riser through the Cardinals鈥 catching-rich system, the 22-year-old Bernal earned a 40-man roster spot last winter and opened the 2026 minor league season with Class AAA Memphis.
He hit .278, had a .363 on-base percentage and slugged .468 in 101 games. His 16 homers, 77 RBIs and 37 extra-base hits are all career highs for the native of Panama City, Panama. Behind the plate, he has nabbed 27.3% of the base-stealing attempts against him.
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For his career, Bernal owns a .257 batting average, a .753 on-base plus slugging percentage and has a caught would-be base stealers at a 30% clip. During the 2025 season, which he spent as the primary catcher for the Texas League champion Class AA Springfield (Missouri) Cardinals, Bernal was one of nine minor leaguers to be awarded a Rawlings minor league Gold Glove Award.
Bernal was signed by the Cardinals in 2021 as an international free agent out of Panama. He鈥檚 seen as having a plus arm, being an above-average framer and a more advanced hitter when swinging from the right side, per Baseball America. His blocking is viewed as 鈥渟ubpar.鈥
Rincon, 24, will need to be added to the 40-man roster to be added to the active roster. His addition would come after the Cardinals placed two starters, Andre Pallante (right elbow inflammation) and Hunter Dobbins (right forearm tightness), on the injured list. Dobbins is set to see a specialist on Tuesday. Pallante will be eligible to return during the series in Los Angeles and appears on track to do so.
After opening the 2026 minor league season in Class AA, Rincon reached Class AAA by early April. He鈥檚 worked exclusively in a relief role for Memphis since May 9. Since then, Rincon has posted a 3.64 ERA and covered 54 1/3 innings across 34 appearances. He has struck out 29.7% of the hitters he鈥檚 faced in that stretch.聽
Rincon relies mostly on three pitches: a four-seam fastball, a power change-up and a slider. Since May 9, his fastball has averaged 94.9 mph and touched 97.5 mph. In that same stretch, his change-up has generated a 46.1% whiff rate, per Statcast.
Rincon signed as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2019.
