{"id":162349,"date":"2026-03-10T16:44:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T16:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=162349"},"modified":"2026-03-10T16:44:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T16:44:27","slug":"jj-wetherholt-has-left-the-st-louis-cardinals-with-the-most-obvious-decision-to-make","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=162349","title":{"rendered":"JJ Wetherholt has left the St. Louis Cardinals with the most obvious decision to make"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"overflow-hidden\" data-lead-image=\"true\"><picture><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"undefined w-full\" title=\"Feb 27, 2026; Jupiter, Florida, USA; St. Louis Cardinals designated hitter JJ Wetherholt (77) rounds the bases after hitting a home run against the New York Mets during the fourth inning at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_4591,h_2582\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/33\/01kk4chtxehxygarq7vx.jpg\" alt=\"Feb 27, 2026; Jupiter, Florida, USA; St. Louis Cardinals designated hitter JJ Wetherholt (77) rounds the bases after hitting a home run against the New York Mets during the fourth inning at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images\" width=\"4591\" height=\"2582\" \/><\/picture><\/div>\n<div class=\"flex items-center gap-4 ml-1 pb-2 mt-4 md:m-3 text-darkGrey font-group-tiny\" data-lead-image=\"true\">Feb 27, 2026; Jupiter, Florida, USA; St. Louis Cardinals designated hitter JJ Wetherholt (77) rounds the bases after hitting a home run against the New York Mets during the fourth inning at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/div>\n<p id=\"inline-text-0\">Let\u2019s not beat around the bush; this is what you came for, after all. JJ Wetherholt should be the starter at second base on opening day for the St. Louis Cardinals. This season. And for many seasons to come. While there have been no front office pronouncements and nothing really from the dugout, to quote Bob Dole, I know it, you know it, and the American people know it. (Everyone under 35, go to Google who Bob Dole is \u2014 that was a wild reference for the first paragraph.) Over on the Redbird Rundown podcast, I made a real-life analogy for the obviousness of this move that\u2019s\u2026tough to escape.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\">Let me make one further pronouncement about Mr. Wetherholt, and then let\u2019s build the case. Not only should he start at second base on opening day, but he should be the opening day leadoff hitter. (Ivan Herrera should bat second, not third. The math says to put your best hitter second \u2014 honestly, that might be Wetherholt!) If it sounds like I\u2019m getting Wetherholt fitted for his red jacket, than you better believe I am. I realize Cardinal fans have been burned by top prospects more than anyone who\u2019s ever been romantically involved with Kim Kardashian, but Wetherholt ain\u2019t that. This guy is a sure thing. Take that to the bank. Pull me off of Redbird Rants if I\u2019m wrong in three years. JJ Wetherholt is absolutely going to hit. (Now, throw some salt over your shoulder or find a black cat or whatever so we get this guy some injury luck.)<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\">Let\u2019s build the case starting with the Cardinals roster. The moment the Cardinals traded Brendan Donovan (still kinda hurts, doesn\u2019t it?), Wetherholt became the glaringly obvious choice to start at second. With all due respect to Thomas (the Italian) Saggese and Jose Fermin, Wetherholt\u2019s star shines far brighter. (I wrote about intriguing roles for Saggese and Fermin here!) Gorman can and should get the whole year at third base. Which means that <em>someone<\/em> needs to play second \u2014 good thing we have a consensus top 10 prospect in baseball ready to do just that.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\">How ready is he? Well, last year in the minors he ran a slash line of .306\/.421\/.510. Is that interesting to you? Before that he lit the NCAA on fire at West Virginia and only fell to the Cardinals at pick number seven because of a hamstring injury that limited his playing time. (Thank God he got injured? That is incredibly weird to say.) But then at Memphis last year he did something he\u2019d never really done before: He changed his approach to chase pull side air power and clobbered 10 home runs in 47 games, basically because he wanted to without sacrificing any contact rates. By the way, 10 home runs in 47 games is a 34 HR pace for a full season. Could he hit 20-25 home runs in the Lou this year? Yep.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\">Defensively, there have been question marks about his arm with respect to sticking at shortstop at the major league level. Good thing we have a Gold Glove shortstop that shoots Iron Man lasers out of his arm to first base. You\u2019ll notice the questions at shortstop didn\u2019t include anything about his range or relative ability to make plays. The Cardinals could have a filthy defense up the middle in Winn, Wetherholt, and Victor Scott II (if VS2 can hit at all). Second base seems to be a perfect place for Wetherholt to land defensively \u2014 and it sounds to me as though he could spell Winn at short from time to time, too.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\">So let me get this straight. The bat is ready \u2014 Derrick Goold is calling him the best hitter in camp. The glove <em>maybe<\/em> could stick at shortstop in the big leagues, which means second base is a lock. Then let\u2019s tackle the last hurdle: service time manipulation. It has become a rite of passage for rebuilding franchises with uber prospects to keep them in the minors until early May to ensure another year of control. MLB has taken steps to dampen that down by offering extra draft picks to teams who field the Rookie of the Year. It just so happens that Wetherholt is the odds-on favorite to win that award. Even if we don\u2019t get that extra pick, if Wetherholt is so good that he gets really expensive, <em>that\u2019s fantastic<\/em>. First, we have a franchise player. Secondly, the Cardinals have wiped the books on payroll and have Elon Musk amounts of money to spend. OK, not quite Musk levels, but you know what I mean.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\">JJ Wetherholt\u2019s last name means a nook of land where sheep are kept. He strikes me as distinctly more of a goat. Second base in St. Louis is the obvious place to me for this guy to shepherd a pack of all-star appearances. Why delay? Let\u2019s get it started on opening day this year. He\u2019s going to be in a red jacket on the field someday; might as well let him see the festivities now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Feb 27, 2026; Jupiter, Florida, USA; St. Louis Cardinals designated hitter JJ Wetherholt (77) rounds the bases after hitting a home run against the New York Mets&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162352,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-162349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>JJ Wetherholt has left the St. Louis Cardinals with the most obvious decision to make - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=162349\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"JJ Wetherholt has left the St. Louis Cardinals with the most obvious decision to make - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Feb 27, 2026; 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