On Aug. 24, the St. Louis Cardinals announced that they agreed to a one-year contract extension with Yadier Molina. Just a day later, he announced that the 2022 season would be his 19th and final season.

“The team will have less leadership when Yadi and Wainwright leave,” junior Easton DeShurley said. “On the other hand, I was excited to hear that Yadi would be returning. It puts an exclamation point on his Hall of Fame career.”

Molina’s Stats: one Silver Slugger, 10-time All-Star, nine Gold Gloves, four Platinum Glover, two World Series Championships, a Roberto Clemente Award, and that is just part of the story. As of Sept. 7, Molina has 1,027 assists which is the most among active catchers. He also is 14th all-time in fielding percentage with an astronomical .9949, all according to baseball-reference.com. Molina is currently fourth all-time in games caught, and he is the only player in history to catch 2,000 games with a single franchise. If he mainly stays injury-free next season, he should have no problem being second all-time in games caught, according to cbssports.com.

“Molina is the best active defensive catcher,” DeShurley said. “He is a lot slower than others offensively, but what he lacks in hitting he makes up for in fielding.”

Suppose Molina makes it into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. It would have made him only the 3rd Hall of Famer to play their entire career with the Cardinals and the 54th Hall of Famer to play his entire career with a single team.

“Molina is a good defensive catcher,” Colin Greiner, varsity baseball athlete said. “While he’s going to be a Hall of Famer, I think it was the right time for the announcement.”