{"id":163269,"date":"2026-03-12T16:41:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T16:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=163269"},"modified":"2026-03-12T16:41:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T16:41:21","slug":"cardinals-nation-buzzing-why-fans-are-already-obsessed-with-the-special-jj-wetherholt-stamp-of-approval-this-endorsement-could-be-the-hype-fuel-st-louis-has-been-craving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=163269","title":{"rendered":"CARDINALS NATION BUZZING: Why Fans Are Already Obsessed with the \u2018Special\u2019 JJ Wetherholt Stamp of Approval \u2013 This Endorsement Could Be the Hype Fuel St. Louis Has Been Craving"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"overflow-hidden\" data-lead-image=\"true\"><picture><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"undefined w-full\" title=\"Feb 16, 2026; Jupiter, FL, USA;  St. Louis Cardinals infielder JJ Wetherholt (77) during spring training workouts at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_5642,h_3173\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/inside_the_cardinals\/01kkfmtnkb6dj5c1ez3p.jpg\" alt=\"Feb 16, 2026; Jupiter, FL, USA;  St. Louis Cardinals infielder JJ Wetherholt (77) during spring training workouts at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images\" width=\"5642\" height=\"3173\" \/><\/picture><\/div>\n<div class=\"flex items-center gap-4 ml-1 pb-2 mt-4 md:m-3 text-grey font-group-tiny\" data-lead-image=\"true\">Feb 16, 2026; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals infielder JJ Wetherholt (77) during spring training workouts at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images | Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images<\/div>\n<p id=\"inline-text-0\">It&#8217;s hard to get much more excited about St. Louis Cardinals No. 1 prospect, but former Cardinals Gold Glover Kolten Wong found a way to add even more hype on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\">Wong joined <em>&#8220;Cardinals Territory&#8221; <\/em>and gushed about the &#8220;special&#8221; young infielder.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\">&#8220;Yeah, just trying to be an ear for him to be honest with you, man,&#8221; Wong said. &#8220;The guy is special. The kid is absolutely special. Just like his makeup, how he carries himself, his attitude about how he&#8217;s trying to get better. He&#8217;s really good at just accepting the fact that he needs to work more. He needs to get better at a lot of different things. The guy is special, man. He&#8217;s going to be a heck of a player. We all know that. And I think that&#8217;s the coolest thing is that he realizes that he&#8217;s good, but he knows that there is so much more that he can add to his game. That&#8217;s a special trait that a lot of guys don&#8217;t have. Just watching him, obviously you watch the bat.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-3\"><strong>The future is bright<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure><figcaption><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_20,w_3550,h_1996\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/inside_the_cardinals\/01kkfmqcdzhcbdyzyax6.jpg\" alt=\"St. Louis Cardinals infielder JJ Wetherholt\" \/>Feb 16, 2026; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals infielder JJ Wetherholt (77) during spring training workouts at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images | Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\">&#8220;The bat is incredible. If you&#8217;re going back slide at Roger Dean, that&#8217;s saying something. Not many guys are doing that. That&#8217;s going to play in the big leagues, man. The makeup, the head, him being confident in himself, that&#8217;s going to play in the big leagues. Defense is going to play in the big leagues. He needs to clean up a few things here and there, but he&#8217;s so young. He&#8217;s going to figure it out and that guy is going to figure it out. St. Louis, be ready, JJ is coming.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&quot;St. Louis, be ready &#8211; JJ [Wetherholt] is coming.&quot;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KoltenWong?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@KoltenWong<\/a> says he&#39;s been impressed by JJ Wetherholt&#39;s work ethic in camp. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LShc1Z2mcf\">pic.twitter.com\/LShc1Z2mcf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Cardinal Territory (@CardTerritory) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CardTerritory\/status\/2031790834606108695?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 11, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\">Wong was seen in camp working with Wetherholt on Tuesday. There was a time when Wong was in Wetherholt&#8217;s shoes as a first-round pick with massive hype. He parlayed it into a great eight-year run in St. Louis and two Gold Glove Awards. He saw it all throughout his career. If he&#8217;s going to publicly give Wetherholt this type of endorsement, it really shows how highly he is viewed within the organization right now. The future is bright.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Feb 16, 2026; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals infielder JJ Wetherholt (77) during spring training workouts at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images |&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163270,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-163269","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>CARDINALS NATION BUZZING: Why Fans Are Already Obsessed with the \u2018Special\u2019 JJ Wetherholt Stamp of Approval \u2013 This Endorsement Could Be the Hype Fuel St. Louis Has Been Craving - 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=163269\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CARDINALS NATION BUZZING: Why Fans Are Already Obsessed with the \u2018Special\u2019 JJ Wetherholt Stamp of Approval \u2013 This Endorsement Could Be the Hype Fuel St. Louis Has Been Craving - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Feb 16, 2026; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals infielder JJ Wetherholt (77) during spring training workouts at Roger Dean Stadium. 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