Cardinals' top prospect earns first preseason honor of 2026

We are a little more than a month away until pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training, and my excitement for the 2026 season increased as the calendar turned to the new year. Even with the St. Louis Cardinals expected to go through the first official year of their rebuild, there is at least some reason for optimism among the Cardinals faithful.

JJ Wetherholt is predicted as a favorite for NL Rookie of the Year award.

Chaim Bloom and his staff have been working to revitalize the Cardinals' minor league system, but one holdover from the previous regime is consensus top-10 prospect JJ Wetherholt, who is the #1 overall minor league player in the organization. The lefty infielder from West Virginia University was a phenomenal selection in the 2024 draft, as Wetherholt slid to the seventh slot due to some minor hamstring concerns during his final college season. Even with the tumble down the top 10, some viewed Wetherholt as having the best hit tool in the entire draft, and Wetherholt has made good on those evaluations over his first year and a half of affiliated baseball.

The first round pick has zoomed up prospect boards, as he has put up a .905 OPS over his first 138 games, reaching Triple-A on his way to being named the organization's Minor League Player of the Year and the Texas League MVP. Now, he heads into the 2026 season looking to make his mark at the major league level. After smacking 10 homers in 42 games with Memphis, Wetherholt has shown an ability to hit at each level and has a real shot at becoming a star in St. Louis. The writers at MLB.com agree, as they released their first predictions for the 2026 award recipients and Wetherholt found his name as the winner of the Rookie of the Year award.

The write-up by Anthony Castrovince admitted that he could have easily gone with Mets' young ace Nolan McLean, whom the MLB writer could see being the early favorite for the top rookie award. What McLean has going for him at this point that Wetherholt does not yet have in his favor is that the pitcher has a clear shot at major league innings from the get-go in 2026. In the short blurb about the Cardinals' infielder, Castrovince says that Wetherholt is a "kid with clear opportunity to meaningfully impact what is bound to be a new-look roster," except for the fact that both Brendan Donovan and Nolan Arenado remain on the major league roster, so there really is no "new look" to speak of.

Until Arenado gets traded, the infield is spoken for, and now there seems to be more a possibility than ever that both Arenado and Donovan remain in St. Louis coming into Spring Training. Even with the third baseman being connected to the Angels and Donovan being an attractive trade piece, it is still too early to state that Wetherholt is locked into a starting spot in 2026. If he is, though, he could easily give McLean and the rest of the field a run for the NL Rookie of the Year award.