His uncle, Matt, was a quarterback at Penn State and was on the 1986 National Championship Nittany Lion squad...Played High School Baseball at Hanover (VA) High School and helped his team to the 2013 Virginia AAA State Championship as an All-State Shortstop....Played football as a quarterback and punter....Played college baseball at North Carolina State University where he was a third baseman and catcher during his career....Ended his three-year career with the Wolfpack batting .312 with 15 HR and 119 RBI over 169 games...Batted .316 (6-19) with six RBI in the 2016 Raleigh NCAA Regional, falling to eventual NCAA Champion Coastal Carolina....Was a Louisville Slugger freshman All-American playing third base and moved to catcher, where he was second team All-Atlantic Coast Conference and preseason third team All-American as a junior...Was a CoSIDA Second Team Academic All-American....Played for the Wareham Gateman in the Cape Cod League over the 2014-15 seasons....Resides in Raleigh, North Carolina.
2021
Made the Cardinals Opening Day roster for the second consecutive season...Started 43 games at catcher with the Cardinals posting a 27-16 (.627) mark in those games... Caught six shutouts in 2021 including three straight starts (May 7, May 13 & May 26)... Threw out 5-of-22 attempted basestealers including 3-of-last-7... Drew 19 walks, T-17th among National League catchers and only five behind teammate Yadier Molina (24), who played in 61 more games... Started 10 games while Molina was on the Injured List (4/27- 5/7) with a right tendon strain, and helped the Cardinals post an 8-2 record in those games while scoring a run in 6-of-10 games. The Cardinals pitching staff recorded a 3.09 ERA over that stretch, 6th-lowest in MLB with opponents batting .198 (4th in MLB)... Drew a career-high three walks in consecutive games (7/24- 25 at Cincinnati), marking the first time a Cardinals catcher had accomplished the feat in franchise history... Caught two of Adam Wainwright’s starts (5/3 vs. NYM & 9/28 vs. MIL) including the Wild Card-clinching game... Cracked a pinch-hit two-RBI single in the 11th inning at NYM (9/14) as the last position player on the Cardinals bench, one of his two pinch-hits on the season... Batted .303 (10-33) with three doubles and a .378 OBP during the month of April, his most hits (10) in any single month of his career... Played in five games for Tigres de Licey in the Dominican Winter League, batting .294 (5-17) with a double, five RBI and a .400 OBP. His first experience in the DWL.
2021 POSTSEASON: Was on the postseason roster for the Wild Card game at Los Angeles (10/6) but did not play.
2020
Played in eight games, starting four at catcher...Threw out 2-of-3 attempted base stealers on the season, including two in one game at CWS (8/16) marking the first time a Cardinals rookie catcher did so since Cody McKay vs. ATL (5/13/2004) catching J.D. Drew and Dewayne Wise...Recorded an RBI in 3-of-8 games played in 2020...Batted .500 (2-4, 4 RBI) with runners in scoring position; and 1.000 (1-1) with the bases loaded. Had the Cardinals lone pinch-hit of the 2020 season, with 2 RBI...Collected two hits and two RBI coming off the bench at CIN (9/1) becoming only the second catcher during the 2020 season to accomplish the feat (Tyler Stephenson, CIN) and first Cardinals catcher since David Freese (10/4/2009 vs. MIL); first which didn’t play other positions in the game since Gary Bennett (4/23/2006 vs. CHI)...Was optioned to the Alternate Training Site once Matt Wieters returned from injury on Sept. 4 and remained on the taxi squad the rest of the season.
2020 POSTSEASON: Was on the postseason roster for the Wild Card series at San Diego but did not play in any of the three games.
2019
Rookie catcher played three stints with St. Louis during his Major League debut season. His first two promotions were due to Yadier Molina being placed on the 10-day I.L...Threw out 42.3% of attempted basestealers (25 CS-59 SB ATT) in Memphis. Led all Triple-A catchers in runners caught stealing (23) at time of his initial recall (May 31) while his overall season total of 25 runners caught stealing led the PCL at season's end...Made his Major League debut on June 2 vs. Chicago Cubs. Started at catcher and was 0-for-3, while catching 8.0 scoreless innings from Adam Wainwright before a run crossed in the 9th inning...After starting the season 0-for-10 with St. Louis, batted .279 (12-43) 2 HR & 7 RBI over his final 15 games. Hit safely in his last 10 starts of the season (.282, 11-39)...Four of his 12 hits went for extra bases (2 doubles, 2 home runs)...Doubled and scored his first MLB run and tallied his first MLB RBI at Cincinnati (7/19). Also threw out Yasiel Puig attempting to steal 2nd base...Hit first Major League home run at Pittsburgh (7/24) off Jordan Lyles while scoring a career-high two runs...Recorded his first career stolen base at Cincinnati (7/21)...Entered as a pinch-runner at Pittsburgh (7/22), scored a run, then caught the 10th inning making a game-saving tag on Kevin Newman on an outfield assist from Jose Martínez in a come-from-behind 6-5 win...Played in only five September games, starting two, while making two pinch-hit appearances and one as a pinchrunner.
2018
Entered the season rated as the No. 10 prospect in the Cardinals organization by Baseball America....Began the season as a non-roster invitee to Major League Spring Training...Combined to play in 94 games between Springfield (AA) and Memphis (AAA) batting .313 with 7 HR, 45 RBI, 18 doubles and a .368 on-base percentage...Was selected to play in the MLB All-Star Futures Game in Washington D.C. for the USA Team. Entered the game defensively in top of the 6th at catcher & caught four innings, beginning with Cardinals teammate Dakota Hudson...Homered on Opening Day in Springfield (4/5)...Ran off a 16-game hitting streak (7/21-8/18), T-6th longest in the Texas League, batting .387 (24-62) during the streak...Hit safely in 70-of-92 games during the regular season...Hit safely in 20 of last 22 games with an at-bat in Springfield (.353, 30-85) beginning stretch w/ four straight multi-hit games (7/21-26) and part of five straight scoring a run (7/20-26)...Reached base safely in 20 straight games (7/13-8/18)...Threw out 26.7% (20 CS/75 SB ATT) of attempted base stealers between Memphis and Springfield...Ranked 3rd among Texas League catchers in caught stealing percentage (29.0%)...Smacked two home runs at Tulsa (7/23), one of his four games with a season-high 3 RBI during the season...Hit all seven of his home runs for Springfield off right-handed pitchers and he batted .318 (68-214) against RHPs...Matched his career-high four hits (4-4) vs. Arkansas (6/23)...Placed on the 7-day IL with a left ear laceration (8/5-11)...Played in seven games during the Pacific Coast League playoffs and batted .160 (4-25) with a double and three walks. Was 2-for-5 with a double in the Triple-A Championship game vs. Durham (9/18)...Following the season, rated as the Texas League's No. 16 prospect by Baseball America.
2017
Began the 2017 season as a non-roster invitee to Major League Spring Training a year after being drafted in the 7th round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft out of North Carolina State... Played in 95 total games during the 2017 season between Peoria (A) and Springfield (AA), batting .302 with 12 home runs and 51 RBI... Ranked among Cardinals minor league leaders in batting (.302, 7th), slugging (.471, 6th), and doubles (23, T-8th)... Hit safely in 67-of-95 games during the season... Named a Midwest League Mid-Season All-Star... Posted the 8th-longest hitting streak in the Midwest League at 15 games (4/28-5/19) batting .323 (20-62) and the 10th-longest hitting streak in the Texas League at 13 games (7/5-25) batting .469 (23-49). Reached base safely in 23 straight games for Springfield (7/5-8/8), T-10th longest streak in the league... Threw out 45.1% (23 CS/51 SB ATT) of attempted basestealers on the season, made only three errors... Played 17 games for Surprise in the Arizona Fall League and ranked 5th in the league in batting (.358), tied for 9th in home runs (3) and 8th in on-base percentage (.403) and slugging (.537)... Missed hitting for the cycle by a home run on Opening Day at Burlington (4/7) tying his career-high with four hits (4-for5) with a double and a triple... Was selected to play in the AFL Rising Stars game and caught three innings in reserve... Named Arizona Fall League Player of the Week (10/24) with performances which included a four-hit game and a two-homer game (10/21).
