The St. Louis Cardinals committed to a rebuild this offseason by trading a few of their best players. They moved on from four stars this offseason by trading Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Nolan Arenado, and Brendan Donovan.
By committing to this rebuild, the Cardinals were also committing to their farm system, which is led by top prospect JJ Wetherholt.
Wetherholt has been the Cardinals’ starting second baseman all season, and he’s been through his fair share of ups and downs. He had a few big moments early in the season, but he fell off a bit, seeing his slash line drop to .218/.364/.345 in late April.
JJ Wetherholt’s 9th inning home run lifts Cardinals over Pirates
On Monday night, Wetherholt had a big moment for the Cardinals. After St. Louis trailed 2-0 for most of the game, Pedro Pages homered in the ninth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Wetherholt made it back-to-back home runs for the Cardinals by lifting a game-tying home run into right-center field.
He’s had a few big moments early in his big league career, but this might be the biggest of them all. The Cardinals’ infielder tied the game, which the Cardinals would go on to win by a final score of 4-2. This victory moved them to 15-13 on the season, trailing the Pirates, Chicago Cubs, and Cincinnati Reds in the National League Central.
But more importantly, this swing from Wetherholt showcased that the moment is never too big for the young infielder.
JJ Wetherholt is heading in the right direction for the Cardinals
Wetherholt is trending in the right direction for the Cardinals. He’s now homered in three consecutive games, bringing his total to six on the young season. Now, he’s slashing .238/.359/.429 with an OPS close to .800. He’s on pace to hit 34 home runs across a full 162-game season. Assuming he plays around 150 games instead of the full 162 games, that’s still a pace of over 30 home runs.
Now that Wetherholt is seemingly unlocking his power at the big league level, he could try to close in on Reds star Sal Stewart in the NL Rookie of the Year race. There’s still plenty of time for the Cardinals’ infielder to catch up, but Stewart has elevated himself far above the other NL rookies early in the year.
With Wetherholt trending in this direction, the Cardinals’ rebuild could come together quicker than anybody expected.
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