LAKELAND, Fla. — After several years as the understudy to the star and so many more days rehearsing than ever taking the stage, Andrew Knizner heard directly from the Cardinals this winter that they were going shopping for a starting catcher to take the job ahead of him.
By spring he’s seen personally that the Cardinals did not stop there, bringing in at least one challenger to try and take his job from him as Willson Contreras’ backup.
“I never want handouts,” Knizner said Tuesday at Detroit’s Joker Marchant Stadium. “I don’t want anything just given to me.