ST. LOUIS -- Andrew Knizner had the best drive of his life Friday afternoon.

The 24-year-old catcher made the four-hour drive from Memphis to Busch Stadium after being called up to the big leagues for the first time.

Well, the drive might have been a little less than four hours.

“I wasn’t speeding that fast,” Knizner said. “I was going a reasonable speed. I was under 80, I’ll give that to you. I started driving and next thing you know, I was seeing the Arch.”

Knizner got the call from Triple-A Memphis manager Ben Johnson around 12:30 p.m. Friday to learn of his promotion. With Yadier Molina being placed on the injured list with a right thumb tendon strain, the Cardinals needed Knizner in St. Louis for their 7:15 p.m. game against the Cubs.

Knizner packed up his stuff and rolled into the player’s lot at Busch Stadium around 6:35, and after convincing the gate attendants that he was a player, he had just enough time to change and step onto the line for the national anthem. He had the next 10 innings to absorb everything and ask questions to his new teammates about how he should prepare if he was called to pinch-hit.

“I’ve gotten a lot of advice over the last day or two,” Knizner said. “The best piece of advice is to just be yourself. You’re here because you play the game a certain way, and you shouldn’t change that.”

Knizner is the club’s No. 2 prospect per MLB Pipeline and has appeared in 37 games for Memphis while batting .286 with five home runs, 17 RBIs and eight doubles. He’s thrown out 17 of 32 attempted basestealers at Triple-A. He didn’t play in the Cardinals’ 2-1 walk-off win Friday, but manager Mike Shildt said Knizner will find playing opportunities.

“The guy isn’t going to back down from competition,” Shildt said. “He’s been to three to four big league camps and always held his own. Got more opportunity this year, and we expect him to go in and play.”

Knizner has worked alongside Molina during Spring Training, but now he’s relishing the opportunity to learn from not only Molina but Matt Wieters -- who has taken over the starting spot in Molina’s absence -- a four-time All-Star with 10 years of Major League experience.

“[This is] more of a win-or-lose setting, everything counts,” Knizner said. “That should be good to turn up the focus a little bit. Spring Training -- you’re there to learn and get better, but it’s more of a relaxed environment. It’ll be cool to talk to Yadi and Wieters about how to approach a real game that counts in wins and losses.”

Shildt added that it’s important that Knizner is conscious of the opportunity to learn from two veteran catchers.

“I was talking with [FOX Sports analyst and former Cardinals catcher] A.J Pierzynski about how rare it is to have two guys with 10-plus years of Major League experience as your No. 1 and 2 catchers,” Shildt said. “Yadi is hurt, but he’s still here, so Andrew being intentional about -- you grow through your own experiences, but you grow quicker through others, so he’s smart enough to pay attention to it. Speaks well for him.”

Knizner is prepared to be here for as long as the Cardinals need him, although that timetable is not known. After Molina saw a hand specialist Friday night, there wasn’t an update Saturday about his return.

Shildt said Saturday that Molina will likely need more than the 10 days, but no surgery is needed. Molina’s thumb started bothering him while holding a bat Sunday, several days after he was hit by a pitch.

“I’m super hesitant to put a timeline on it because everyone heals differently,” Shildt said. “It could be two to three weeks. It could be shorter. It just depends, and one reason I don’t want to put even a loose deadline on it is because you feel like you have to meet it. We’re being more organic about what it looks like and then just take the temperature as we go.”