Minor League Baseball

St. Louis Cardinals' Top Prospect Learns Minor League Placement For Start of 2025

JJ Wetherholt, who is currently ranked as the No. 23 prospect in baseball, will begin the year at Double-A.
Brady Farkas|
St. Louis Cardinals left feilder JJ Wetherholt (87) runs to second base against the Houston Astros during the second inning at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches on March 5.
St. Louis Cardinals left feilder JJ Wetherholt (87) runs to second base against the Houston Astros during the second inning at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches on March 5. | Rich Storry-Imagn Images

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St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals have told top prospect JJ Wetherholt that he'll begin the year at Double-A, according to a report from Derrick Goold.

JJ Wetherholt will start season with Class AA @Sgf_Cardinals, POBO John Mozeliak says.

Top prospect was seventh overall pick this past summer and already within view of the majors with #SCards.

#stlcards

Wetherholt is currently ranked as the No. 23 prospect in baseball, per MLB Pipeline. He was selected No. 7 overall in the 2024 MLB Draft out of West Virginia. He has only 29 games to his minor league resume, but he hit .295 in those games with two homers and 20 RBI.

While a promotion to the major leagues this year would be quick, the Astros are on the verge of putting Cam Smith from the same draft class on the major league roster at the beginning of the year.

The following comes from a portion of his MLB.com prospect profile:

Starting slightly open from the left side before closing his stance with a leg raise, Wetherholt had some of the best bat-to-ball skills in his Draft class, running as high a contact rate as 89.7 percent as a sophomore in 2023. He continued to show a keen eye in the Florida State League and performed well with an all-fields approach against most pitch types. He ran a 104.5 mph 90th-percentile exit velocity, exhibiting the above-average power that kicks his offensive profile up a notch.

The Double-A Cardinals will start their season on March 28, one day after the major league club opens up.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is the senior writer for “Minor League Baseball on SI’’ and the host of “The Payoff Pitch’’ podcast, which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. Follow Brady on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady.

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