Top Cardinals prospect receives national recognition for tearing cover of the ball

St. Louis Cardinals JJ Wetherholt prepares for batting practice before a spring training game against the Toronto Blue Jays at TD Ballpark. | Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images

Stop me if you have heard this one before. Cardinals top prospect JJ Wetherholt has been raking at the plate over the last week.

Wetherholt was named to MLB Pipeline’s Prospect Team of the Week after slashing .579/.667/.895 with 1 home run, 4 runs batted in, 4 walks, and 17 total bases for Double-A Springfield. After the hot week at the plate, the West Virginia product is now slashing .313/.432/.473 with 10 doubles, 1 triple, 4 home runs, 21 runs batted in, 7 stolen bases, and 29 walks over 185 plate appearances in 42 games in 2025.

The 22-year-old has now surpassed the amount of plate appearances he had to finish the 2024 season in High-A by about 60 at-bats. With the positive results at both levels thus far, when does the team move him up to Triple-A?

A good reference point for Wetherholt is the player who was picked one pick ahead of him in the 2024 MLB Draft in Jac Caglinone. The Royals just called up Caglinone to make his MLB debut last week in St. Louis after 126 plate appearances in High-A last season and 175 and 54 respectively in Double-A and Triple-A. Wetherholt has shown he deserves to take that next step, which we should see with another solid week at the plate.

JJ Wetherholt can’t be stopped!

He just recorded his second hit of the game, marking his fifth consecutive multi-hit performance. pic.twitter.com/Qmzwomr4e8

— Kareem (@KareemSSN) June 9, 2025

Once Wetherholt gets up to Memphis, it will be dependent on how he handles the change in level. Caglinone posted a 1.094 OPS over 12 games in Triple-A before his eventual major league call-up. If Wetherholt gets up and posts similar numbers, it will be hard to keep him there if the big league club needs a jolt in the infield. It will only be a matter of time before he joins fellow top pitching prospect Tekoah Roby, as he was recently promoted to Triple-A.