Cardinals Expecting Even More From Rookie JJ Wetherholt

It's hard to argue against the idea that the St. Louis Cardinals may have found themselves their next homegrown stars.

Wetherholt was selected with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft and quickly shot his way up through the club's farm system and now is contributing at the big league level on a nightly basis.

The 23-year-old has now played in 32 games in the big leagues and is slashing .246/.365/.459 with an .824 OPS, seven homers, 16 RBIs, four stolen bases, 17 walks, five doubles and 27 runs scored. Wetherholt also has recorded five outs above average, which is in the 99th percentile in Major League Baseball.

The Cardinals Rookie Looks Like A Star

Apr 30, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; St. Louis Cardinals second baseman JJ Wetherholt (26) fields a ground ball against Pittsburgh Pirates designated hitter Ryan O'Hearn (not pictured) for an out to end the fifth inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Wetherholt isn't playing like one of the best rookies in the league. Instead, he's playing like one of the best overall players in the league and already has recorded 1.5 wins above replacement, which is tied with Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers and is ahead of guys like Willson Contreras of the Boston Red Sox, Cody Bellinger of the New York Yankees, Carlos Correa of the Houston Astros, and Munetaka Murakami of the Chicago White Sox, among many others.

This is just the beginning as well. Wetherholt has been in the majors for just over one month. That's it. He's just scratching the surface of what he can be. Cardinals manager Oli Marmol made that point and noted that he thinks there is more to come, as transcribed by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“When we committed to leading him off, this is why we did it,” Marmol said. “He has this and more in him. This is a hard worker who is super talented, so I think quite honestly, he’s just getting started.”

If you're a Cardinals fan, it's okay to be excited. Now, of course, it's a small sample size. But it's okay to be excited because he already has shown that he can be a star in this league and he's just 23 years old. Jordan Walker has also looked like a star so far this season and is also 23 years old. The biggest takeaway from the 2026 season is going to which young guys secure their spots as a part of the core moving forward. Wetherholt entered the season with the expectation that he would be good. But he already has been better than expected.

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