5 Cardinals' prospects getting noticed by league executives

The St. Louis Cardinals have been receiving criticism for their handling of their minor league development and top prospects, but the new crop of talent in the minors has captured the attention of executives around the league. In recent prospect polls, the Cardinals saw a total of five players at least receiving votes for having MLB-caliber tools.

Pitchers receiving recognition:

#1 Quinn Mathews (2024 Cardinals' #3 prospect, #77 overall via MLB.com)

The only pitcher on the list to reach the leaderboard graphic for their voting results, Quinn Mathews was named the second-best pitcher in regards to pitchability. Mathews won this vote last year and was also named MLB Pipeline's 2024 pitching prospect of the year. When discussing pitchability, MLB.com refers to this tool as "overall feel for how to mix pitches and set up hitters". Rhett Lowder of the rival Cincinnati Reds was named the winner of this category for the second year in a row.

In addition to his pitchability tool, Mathews' 60-grade changeup received votes from executives for the best secondary pitch. Baseball Savant's scouting report shows the pitch sits in the low 80s and has the ability to be a strikeout or a groundball pitch. Mathews also features a curve and slider that both receive above-average scout grades.

Mathews was a fourth-round pick in the 2023 draft and did not pitch professionally after he was signed so he just finished his first full professional season last year. The lefty tore his way through the minors and jumped all the way to Triple-A Memphis, where he went 8-5 with a sub-3 ERA and tallied 200 strikeouts while being named the 2024 Cardinals' Minor League Pitcher of the Year.

#2 Tink Hence (#2, #61)

Not to be outdone by his lefty teammate, 22-year-old Tink Hence made an appearance on two lists, the first of which also being in terms of pitchability. Hence has four above-average offerings, with his changeup receiving a 70 grade on the 80-grade scale. His fastball can hit the mid-to-upper 90s and he has the command to stick as a starter, however, he is slightly undersized and has seen some workload limitations put on him during his short professional career to this point.

This leads into his other appearance on the polls where executives were asked which pitching prospect has the best chance of making a career as a closer. This vote was widespread among names at all levels of the minor leagues and Hence was listed under the "others receiving votes" category. For the second year in a row, the leading vote-getter was Milwaukee Brewers' prospect Jacob Misiorowski but the Brewers seem content to leave him in the minor league rotation for the time being.

This vote coincides with earlier reports in 2024 where Keith Law agrees on Hence's future as a major league reliever. Hence just finished his fourth professional season and the 2024 year saw the Cardinals continue to limit his workload. In 20 starts this year, the righty tallied just short of 80 innings but posted extremely encouraging K/9 (12.31) and BB/9 (2.94) while keeping the ball in the ballpark.

#3 Michael McGreevy (#21, unranked)

The final pitcher receiving recognition from league executives is 24-year-old Michael McGreevy, who is the only Cardinal pitcher on the list to play in a Major League game. McGreevy, the organization's #21 prospect was a 2021 first-round pick who had a middling minor league career to the point of his call-up last season. The righty was also mentioned in the pitchability category as he has five MLB-ready pitches with great command projections. When being drafted from UC-Santa Barbara, McGreevy had 115 strikeouts against only 11 walks, giving him a 10.5 strikeout-to-walk ratio which ranked second in Division I.

McGreevy made his debut at the end of last season for a struggling Cardinals team and did enough to be in consideration for the fifth rotation spot coming into Spring Training. While he does not possess overpowering stuff (his fastball averaged 92.3 mph last season), he showed his ability to limit the damage during his short big-league stint. In 23 innings with the Cardinals, McGreevy went 3-0 with a 1.96 ERA, including a phenomenal eight-inning, one-run performance in his last start of the season. He only allowed one home run to go along with his .78 WHIP, but he did not get a lot of swing-and-miss at his offerings. While he did not pitch enough to qualify for full rankings, Baseball Savant has positive peripherals surrounding his ability to induce weak contact and trust his defense to make the plays.

With questions surrounding the Cardinals' ability to take advantage of young pitching, seeing three MLB-ready arms receive consideration is an encouraging sign for the future.

Position players receiving recognition:

JJ Wetherholt (#1, #18)

The Cardinals' draft luck allowed JJ Wetherholt to fall to them at the 7th spot in the 2024 draft despite the West Virginia infielder being seen as one of the top-hitting prospects in the draft. Prior to the college season, scouts viewed Wetherholt as a potential top pick but a hamstring issue limited the lefty hitter to mostly designated hitter duties.

After the draft, St. Louis sent Wetherholt to Palm Beach where he spent 29 games playing the majority of them at shortstop. His defense held up at the professional level as he only made two errors in that short stretch. Offensively, Wetherholt showed his college skillset can play at the next level. For the season, he hit .295 with two homers, an .805 OPS, and more walks (16) than strikeouts (15).

So where did the 22-year-old find himself among pipeline executives? He appeared on three different lists although each of these has him listed in the "also receiving votes" category. In a very crowded field, the first vote he was mentioned was for Breakout Prospect.

As a player who played in less than 30 games all at the A-level, this is a huge honor. He is listed among players older, more experienced, or even those who have already made their Major League debuts. The next two lists are similar and each related to his highly-rated offense. The first was for hit tool, which FanGraphs has his future ability as a 60-grade on the scouting scale. His debut season proved this with his 12.7% walk rate that overshadows his even more impressive 11.9% strikeout rate. The sample size is small, but the fact he was not overpowered right out of the draft should breed some level of excitement.

His final appearance on the prospect list comes from the executives listing him among the best-hitting prospects, slightly different from the previous hit tool. This list takes the entire offensive approach into consideration, and Wetherholt's future 55-grade power shows he has the potential to be a dangerous hitter.

Thomas Saggese (#7, unranked)

Finally, Saggese's appearance on this specific poll is interesting as he did not rank in any other responses from league executives. The utility infielder received votes in the NL Rookie of the Year executives poll but did not reach the top four vote-getters. If and when Nolan Arenado is dealt from St. Louis, Wetherholt will most likely fill a super-utility role at all four infield spots. Brendan Donovan may be asked to fill a more permanent spot depending on player performance, so that could still open up avenues for more consistent playing time. To avoid repeating all the positives surrounding Saggese's game and future potential, take a look at this breakdown of his career to this point and his outlook moving forward.

MLB.com has yet to unveil its top-100 prospects list for the 2025 season, but each of these players has the potential to make a jump up the chart. Depending on how the upcoming season goes for the Cardinals, there is a chance that the fans could see each of these players in St. Louis before the end of the year.