Final season prospect rankings shines a light on Cardinals' future

The St. Louis Cardinals wrapped up their third consecutive season where they missed the playoffs and are speeding towards a rebuild. How long that rebuild lasts, however, is anyone's guess. Some fans believe they are a couple free agents away from competing for a Wild Card, while others think a total reset is the way to go. What is clear, though, is that Chaim Bloom will be inhering a strong farm system with players who could debut sooner than later.

The Cardinals have four players ranked in MLB Pipeline's Top 100

#5 IF JJ Wetherholt

Coming in to 2024, St. Louis had three top 100 prospects in Masyn Winn, Tink Hence, and Tekoah Roby. Winn, of course, has cemented himself as a major piece of the Cardinals' future, but neither of the other two names from last year remained healthy enough to give scouts optimism for their futures. This year, that prospect number jumped up to four players, all of whom are new to the list.

To probably nobody's surprise, the Cardinals' top-rated prospect is JJ Wetherholt, the team's first draft pick in 2024, who skyrocketed up the rankings with a phenomenal 2025 campaign that ended with him being named the Texas League MVP despite being in Double-A for only 62 games. He was drafted as a shortstop, but with Winn's presence there, it is more likely Wetherholt fills in at third or second base next year, two spots he received more playing time as the year progressed. The lefty infielder was even better in his next 47 games with Triple-A Memphis, hitting .314 with a .978 OPS while adding 10 homers and nine stolen bases.

Wetherholt should get the first crack at a starting infield spot next year, assuming Nolan Arenado and another position player are traded. As long as he can hold his own during Spring Training, I feel confident in saying we will see Wehterholt in St. Louis early in the 2026 season.

#36 LHP Liam Doyle

Another player who has risen quickly up prospect boards in the same year they were drafted is left-handed pitcher Liam Doyle, whom the Cardinals selected 5th overall in the 2025 MLB Draft. After his selection, Doyle was brought along slowly before making his debut in Low-A at the beginning of September. Evidently, his performance was good enough for the team to promote the former Tennessee Volunteer to Springfield, where he pitched two innings and struck out three batters. That would be the end of his first professional season but the electric lefty now finds himself on a swift move up the organization ladder.

For me, I would offer an invite to MLB Spring Training for Doyle this year and see how he handles the increased competition. Depending on his exhibition performance, the lowest level I see him starting at is Double-A with a potential fast push to Memphis, similar to that of Wetherholt.

#55 C Rainiel Rodriguez

In the bottom half of MLB's top prospects, the Cardinals have a pair of catchers that may be a couple years from their debuts but are exciting nonetheless. The first of these backstops is 18-year-old power hitter Rainiel Rodriguez, who exploded onto the scene with mammoth homers against talent at least two years older than him on average. Less than a month ago, Baseball America had Rodriguez as their 99th-best prospect, but fans of the organization felt that was far too low for the amount of potential he had shown. Turns out, MLB agrees.

Rodriguez checks in at #55 on their list, thanks to a season that saw him smack 20 homers in just 84 games while posting a 65:54 strikeout-to-walk ratio across three levels, peaking at High-A Peoria. Of those games, 60 were spent with Palm Beach, where he hit 13 homers and also threw out 30% of base stealers. As the rest of the catchers ahead of him in the organization move on or move up, expect Rodriguez to continue his quick push towards the next level.

#92 C Leonardo Bernal

The final name to crack the list is one that may be a bit of a forgotten man, as he was slightly overshadowed by his counterparts. Leonardo Bernal, a 21-year-old switch hitting catcher, has been with the Cardinals organization since he was just 17 and has started to put all pieces of his game together. Bernal had a cup of coffee with Springfield in 2024 but became the go-to backstop for 107 games in Double-A this year.

On the championship squad, Bernal saw his batting average drop to .247, but he showed a better approach at the plate, trimming his strikeouts and drawing more walks while also setting a career high in homers and stolen bases with 13 apiece. After Jimmy Crooks III was promoted from Memphis to the bigs, Bernal stayed put in Double-A, but I would expect him to make the jump to Triple-A next year, assuming that Crooks sticks around the big league roster.