By: James Gravley | WV Sports Chat
There isn’t much more for JJ Wetherholt to do in the minors other than to pad his stats a little more than what he has done in a year with the St. Louis Cardinals organization.
Wetherholt, who was selected seventh overall in the 2024 MLB Draft and since then has skyrocketed through the Cardinals ranks.
Now, it’s easy for fans – primarily WVU fans – who are on the outside of the organization to say the former Mountaineer needs to be promoted, but there’s things holding that back.
According to MLB.com, Wetherholt will likely be called up to the big leagues in September.
And since his promotion to Triple-A Memphis, the top Cardinals prospect has slashed .333/.391/.762 with an OPS of 1.153 over 11 games with four home runs and five RBIs.
As most Cardinals reporters have suggested, there is a lot jam within the infield rotation. Nolan Arenado won’t be moved off of third base. Masyn Winn is locked in at shortstop even with dealing with an injury. And the only other position that Wetherholt has solid playing time at is second base, but that’s being locked down by All-Star Brendan Donovan.
Even if the Cardinals were to make room for Wetherholt, they could hold off on a promotion this year.
That would be the control the organization has over his contract.
They could be trying to save money on all ends in the pre-arbitration years. Generally though, most pre-arb guys have less than three years of service.
As of now Wetherholt’s ETA to the big leagues is for next year according to MLB Pipeline. Which usually is the target date and year of when prospects get promoted to the big leagues.
Photo: MLB.com
