Cardinals Hitting Jackpot With Red-Hot JJ Wetherholt

St. Louis Cardinals phenom JJ Wetherholt is on a heater right now. That's a phrase you may see a lot in Major League Baseball and sometimes it feels like a stretch. But that's not the case with Wetherholt right now.

It didn't take Wetherholt to make some noise early on Thursday against Paul Skenes and the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 23-year-old stepped up to the plate as the first overall batter of the day on Thursday with St. Louis being on the road. On Skenes' third pitch of the afternoon, Wetherholt blasted a homer to right field.

JJ Wetherholt leadoff homer! 🚀 pic.twitter.com/0eLUDyZAxj
— MLB (@MLB) April 30, 2026

JJ Wetherholt Just Made Cardinals History

Apr 29, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; St. Louis Cardinals second baseman JJ Wetherholt (26) fields a ground ball for an out against Pittsburgh Pirates left fielder Bryan Reynolds (not pictured) during the ninth inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

With the homer, Wetherholt now has seven homers on the season in 31 games played. That's a pretty shocking pace for a rookie. Right now, the second baseman is on pace for 36 homers on the season at just 23 years old. That certainly will play. He now has four homers in his last six games as well. He's been an on-base machine in general. In fact, he now has an extra-base hit in six straight games after crushing a homer on Thursday.

MLB's Sarah Langs shared that Wetherholt actually is the youngest member of the organization to have an extra-base hit streak of six games or more since Albert Pujols back in 2003.

"23-year-old JJ Wetherholt is the youngest Cardinals player with a 6+ game extra-base hit streak since 2003 Albert Pujols," Langs wrote. "The longest XBH streak by a Cardinals player at 23 or younger since at least 1900 is 7, by: 2001 Pujols, 1938 Enos Slaughter."

So, if Wetherholt can keep the streak going on Friday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he will tie the record set by Pujols and Slaughter. Any time you can find your name near Pujols' in the Cardinals' record books, you're doing something right. It was known coming into the season that Wetherholt was going to be good offensively.

It's his bread and butter. But the power numbers are surprising. He had 17 homers in 109 games last year in his first full season of professional baseball. He already has seven homers in just 31 games in the majors. That's impressive and is clear growth over his play last year down in the minors. Also, he is among the game's most elite defensive second basemen as well and is in the 98th percentile in outs above average. Wetherholt certainly has lived up to expectations.

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