Knizner went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Sunday's 2-1 loss to the Pirates.

EDGE Analysis

Knizner provided the Cardinals' lone run with a seventh-inning blast off Pirates starter Rich Hill. While playing time is once again scarce for Knizner, he's homered in each of his last two games and hit safely in four of his last five contests. He's at a .232/.259/.476 slash line with five homers, 12 RBI, 12 runs scored and a stolen base over 86 plate appearances -- solid numbers for a backup catcher.

Knizner went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Sunday's 4-3 loss to the Guardians.

EDGE Analysis

Knizner went 4-for-11 (.364) with two extra-base hits over four games last week. He's still good for one or two starts a week as backup to Willson Contreras, but there's not a clear path to consistent at-bats for Knizner. For the season, he's slashing .231/.259/.449 with four homers, 11 RBI, 11 runs scored, a stolen base and five doubles over 92 plate appearances.

Knizner went 2-for-4 with a double and a stolen base in Thursday's 2-1 win over the Reds.

EDGE Analysis

Miles Mikolas and Luke Weaver traded zeroes for the bulk of seven innings, making for a low-event game. Knizner was the only Cardinal with multiple hits, his fourth such effort in May. He also logged a steal in the ninth inning, his first since 2019. Knizner had a run of playing time when Willson Contreras was moved to designated hitter earlier in the month, but Knizner's been on the bench for much of the last week. He's slashing .230/.260/.419 with three home runs, 10 RBI and 10 runs scored over 78 plate appearances, and he's unlikely to see more than a backup role as long as Contreras remains healthy.

Knizner went 1-for-1 with a grand slam and two total runs in Monday's 18-1 rout of Milwaukee.

EDGE Analysis

Knizner began the game on the bench, but he came in to pinch run for Paul Goldschmidt with St. Louis up by eight runs in the eighth inning. He came around to score when Nolan Gorman homered four pitches later, and Knizner then got a turn at the plate when St. Louis batted around to get back to Goldschmidt's original spot. Knizner delivered a grand slam off position player Mike Brosseau, putting the icing on a huge 10-run frame. It was the second straight game with a homer for Knizner, who went deep just once over his first 56 at-bats of the season.

Knizner is out of the lineup for Monday's game against the Brewers.

EDGE Analysis

With Willson Contreras back behind the plate Monday for the first time since May 4, Knizner will retreat to the bench, ending a stretch of nine consecutive starts for the 28-year-old backstop. Despite Contreras' struggles with adapting to the St. Louis pitching staff in his first season with the team, the Cardinals have seemingly reaffirmed their commitment to him as their primary catcher. With that in mind, Knizner is expected to see his playing time take a big hit, even though he held his own defensively and at the plate (.281 average, six extra-base hits) during his nine-game starting run.

Knizner went 2-for-5 with a two-run home run and an additional run scored in Sunday's 9-1 win over the Red Sox.

EDGE Analysis

Knizner got a short run as the Cardinals' primary catcher over the last week, and he went 7-for-26 (.269) with a homer, four doubles, four RBI and five runs scored over the last seven games. Willson Contreras is expected to resume catching duties Monday, so Knizner's playing time is likely to drop off a bit again. The veteran backup has a .213/.238/.377 slash line with two homers, six RBI, eight runs scored and four doubles through 64 plate appearances this year.

Knizner went 2-for-4 with two doubles, two runs scored and an RBI in Sunday's 12-6 win over the Tigers.

EDGE Analysis

Knizner posted his first multi-hit game of the year Sunday. He doubled home a run and scored in the sixth and then doubled and scored yet again in the eighth. The 28-year-old raised his slash line to .205/.244/.333 and has just one homer, three RBI, five runs and a 2:15 BB:K over 42 plate appearances this year.

Knizner will serve as the Cardinals' top catcher for the next few weeks while Willson Contreras spends time at designated hitter and in the outfield, John Denton of MLB.com reports.

EDGE Analysis

Contreras has looked good offensively, but the Cardinals are unhappy with his performance on the defensive side and aren't going to use him much if at all at catcher for the near future. That opens up considerably more playing time for Knizner, but he's unlikely to do enough with it to have much fantasy value. In 197 career major-league games, he's hit .201/.287/.285 with eight homers.

Knizner went 1-for-3 with a solo home run in Friday's 5-4 loss to the Tigers.

EDGE Analysis

Knizner got the Cardinals on the board in the third inning with his solo shot, which was his first homer and fifth hit of the season. He's supplied his two RBI over his last two games, and he's also added three runs scored while hitting .156 across 35 plate appearances. With Willson Contreras getting most of the starts behind the dish, it's tough to see Knizner getting consistent playing time.

Knizner will open the season as the Cardinals' backup catcher, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

EDGE Analysis

Knizner has gone just 4-for-42 (.095) through 14 games this spring in the Grapefruit League, but he still managed to fend off a challenge from Tres Barrera. It probably came down to experience in the end, as Knizner was the locked-in backup to Yadier Molina the last two years. He'll now fill the same role behind offseason addition Willson Contreras.