Cardinals News: JJ Wetherholt’s absence, Hunter Dobbins joins rotation, Ramon Urias setback

The St. Louis Cardinals had a busy week shuffling their big league roster on offense and on the mound while nursing some minor injuries. Lars Nootbaar returned to action and made an instant difference, but he did so without usual leadoff hitter JJ Wetherholt in the lineup.

JJ Wetherholt is working through a groin issue

When JJ Wetherholt missed Wednesday's series finale, it looked like a well-timed off day with a lefty on the mound and the team idle on Thursday. However, the rookie's absence continued into the weekend with Wetherholt missing the first two games of the three-game set against the Reds. Before the game Friday, Derrick Goold reported that the second baseman is fighting through groin pain.

Rather than force him to play through it, the Cardinals are taking a cautious approach for the player who missed some time on defense during his last season at West Virginia. Wetherholt has been outstanding with the glove in his first year at second base, but with Ivan Herrera handling the DH duties, Oli Marmol sees it best to keep Wetherholt off his feet completely. When he returns to the lineup, it will be interesting to see how he slots into the order with the return of Nootbaar, who hit leadoff in his season debut.

Cardinals moving to six-man rotation

After back-to-back prescribed lengthy relief outings, the Cardinals are officially moving Hunter Dobbins to the starting rotation. Rather than demote someone from the staff to the bullpen, though, the team is opting to work with a six-man rotation this week and see how things progress. The Cardinals play 18 games in 19 days with a strange Saturday off day mixed in the stretch and they have yet to announce when he will receive his second start of the year.

In his three opportunities at the big league level, Dobbins has done everything the Cardinals have asked of him. He made a solid spot start during their previous long stretch of games before running into trouble in the later innings before his latest two outings resulted in bullpen-saving performances. The righty has finished each of the last two games he has pitched, notching his first professional save in relief of Matthew Liberatore before grabbing the win after pitching the final five innings behind Kyle Leahy.

Ramon Urias shut down, Nathan Church getting close

In the busy week of moves, the Cardinals were expecting to make a couple more at the end of the weekend. Ramon Urias and Nathan Church had both been on a rehab assignment but are going in different directions. Backup third baseman Ramon Urias had been on the IL since early May with a throwing elbow issue, but had recently returned to action with this weekend being a target date for returning. However, his return to St. Louis is actually bad news as Urias is experiencing pain in his other elbow and is back in town for further testing.

Church, on the other hand, is making progress and recovering well after hitting the shelf with a shoulder issue. The injury could not have come at a worse time for the outfielder, who appeared to have seized the starting center field job from Victor Scott II before going down. While VSII has not taken a stranglehold on the spot, Church will have to prove he is healthy while also maintaining his offensive output from the start of the year. He will likely split time between center and left when Nootbaar needs a day off from the grass.

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