Wetherholt steals the show as Cardinals eye next generation
If Winter Warm-Up was about any singular person, there is no doubt the star of the show was JJ Wetherholt.
He signed autographs, received awards, met fans in St. Louis and during a caravan tour, dressed up in a ridiculous disguise for content shoots, and jokingly chided the organization’s social media arm on Instagram for using one of his video clips without compensation.
He was a topic of conversation for past and future teammates and coaches, the president of baseball operations, and even team ownership. A franchise striving to present itself as something new drawn from something old has chosen not to shy away from one of its freshest faces, instead opening the doors of possibility as wide as they can be thrown.
By the end of the weekend, it was clear St. Louis Cardinals outfield coach Jon Jay was going to need a new nickname. There’s only one JJ around the ballpark these days.
“It’s cool to have people talk about you, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to perform,” Wetherholt said during his weekend media availability. “Those guys who hyped you up will be the first one to tear you down as soon as it goes bad. So you try to tune all that stuff out and just do the work that you can, and hopefully that comes true.”
If shutting out the critics—real or imagined—is what Wetherholt needs to reach his potential, he is clearly letting in or tuning out the right people. He is currently MLB Pipeline’s fifth-rated prospect, coming off a season in which he was named MVP of the Double-A Texas League despite a midseason promotion to Triple-A Memphis.
That promotion came with a jump in power production that signals a developing hitter with the ability to spray the ball with authority to all fields. The Cardinals, even with Brendan Donovan still briefly on the roster, have cleared a path for Wetherholt to make the jump to the big leagues at the conclusion of spring training, and they are not shying away from that possibility.
“There’s certain times you want to be more reassuring of how you communicate how open that spot is,” manager Oli Marmol said. “You do it based on the person on the other side of it, as far as how they would handle that conversation, how they’ll experience those words, and whether they would run with it or not.”
Whether the relevant opening is at second or third base will depend in large measure on what happens with Donovan in the coming weeks. Marmol expressed last season his belief that Donovan was the team’s starting second baseman and would benefit from stability at that position.
It is also notable that while Nolan Gorman and Thomas Saggese have been mentioned as possible solutions to filling Nolan Arenado’s role at third base, neither has received the kind of strong support expected for a permanent replacement.
Wetherholt, who was drafted as a shortstop and has played there primarily in his two minor league seasons, said his lifelong comfort at second would make for a smooth transition and that he has been focused more on his work at third base, simply due to lack of familiarity.
“Because Nolan [Arenado] gets traded, that doesn’t mean I’m like, ‘oh, OK, here we go, third base,’ and take all my reps at third base,” Wetherholt said. “They told me to work everywhere, so I’ve been working everywhere, and until that changes, then I’ll go about things differently.”
“He’s a special player,” said Triple-A teammate Blaze Jordan. “He’s a special talent, for sure. He’s a great guy overall, you know? I just love being around him, and you know he’s going to be a special player.”
The raves and support have been unequivocal. They also echo the way the organization spoke about Jordan Walker ahead of his debut in 2023. After a solid rookie season, Walker has struggled to build on early success. One player is not the same as another, and it is never as simple as making a direct comparison.
Still, given the environment into which Wetherholt will graduate to the majors, there is reason to tread lightly until there is clear evidence he can hit the ground running.
It is clear both the player and the team feel that time is rapidly approaching, and they are showing no hesitation. Wetherholt is the personification of the ground floor of the Cardinals’ rebuild, and he will be the foundation upon which the franchise hopes to build future success.
“There’s a lot of young guys who are hungry to make a name for themselves, but also to bring a bunch of winning games back to St. Louis,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to do. You can feel that, as a young guy.”
That is a feeling the Cardinals hope persists until he is an old guy, still a foundational player in St. Louis.
