Cardinals minor league players of the year highlighted by near MLB-ready talents

As they do each year, the St. Louis Cardinals reward their best-performing position player and pitching prospects with their Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year awards, and this year, the two recipients are knocking on the door of making their mark in St. Louis.

The Cardinals announced today that their top prospect, JJ Wetherholt, was their Minor League Player of the Year, and that recent 40-man roster addition, Brycen Mautz, was taking home the Minor League Pitcher of the Year honors.

JJ Wetherholt and Brycen Mautz are the Cardinals Minor League Players of the Year

To no one's surprise, Wetherholt took home the Minor League Player of the Year award after masterfully rising through their system in his first year of professional baseball. Wetherholt, 23, slashed .306/.421/.510 in 496 plate appearances across Double-A and Triple-A, winning Texas League MVP and vaulting himself into a consensus top-five prospect in all of baseball.

Many talent evaluators echo the same thoughts about Wetherholt, calling him a dynamic hitter with a very high ceiling and about as safe a floor as any prospect in the game. If Wetherholt hits his heights as a player, we are talking about a borderline superstar player in the Cardinals' lineup every day, but his high floor makes it almost unthinkable that he wouldn't be a productive big leaguer for a long time.

Wetherholt's superpower is his plate discipline and swing decisions, as he rarely swings and misses, he takes his walks, and he knows what pitches he can do damage with. If you make a mistake to Wetherholt, he'll make you pay, but if you pitch him well, he will adjust and take his walks, singles, and doubles.

The Cardinals are planning to have Wetherholt in their Opening Day lineup come 2026, and for good reason.

Mautz, whom Cardinals fans may be less familiar with, was selected in the second round of the 2022 MLB Draft and had a dynamite season for the Springfield Cardinals, posting a 2.98 ERA with 134 strikeouts in just 114.2 innings of work. In a year where many of the Cardinals' top pitching prospects were shelved due to injury, Mautz broke out in a major way.

While Mautz doesn't have the same upside as a Liam Doyle, Quinn Mathews, or Tekoah Roby, the left-hander has put himself on the Cardinals' radar as a potential rotation option long term, or even a productive piece of their bullpen. Mautz will likely begin the 2026 season in Triple-A and could see his first taste of Major League action later in the season.

The Cardinals' farm system has taken strides forward this year and will continue to be at the forefront of fans' minds over the next few seasons. If Chaim Bloom's rebuild is going to work, they need to pump out a lot of talent, and it seems like that talent is already beginning to knock on the door of St. Louis.