JJ Wetherholt has left the St. Louis Cardinals with the most obvious decision to make

Let’s not beat around the bush; this is what you came for, after all. JJ Wetherholt should be the starter at second base on opening day for the St. Louis Cardinals. This season. And for many seasons to come. While there have been no front office pronouncements and nothing really from the dugout, to quote Bob Dole, I know it, you know it, and the American people know it. (Everyone under 35, go to Google who Bob Dole is — that was a wild reference for the first paragraph.) Over on the Redbird Rundown podcast, I made a real-life analogy for the obviousness of this move that’s…tough to escape.

Let me make one further pronouncement about Mr. Wetherholt, and then let’s build the case. Not only should he start at second base on opening day, but he should be the opening day leadoff hitter. (Ivan Herrera should bat second, not third. The math says to put your best hitter second — honestly, that might be Wetherholt!) If it sounds like I’m getting Wetherholt fitted for his red jacket, than you better believe I am. I realize Cardinal fans have been burned by top prospects more than anyone who’s ever been romantically involved with Kim Kardashian, but Wetherholt ain’t that. This guy is a sure thing. Take that to the bank. Pull me off of Redbird Rants if I’m wrong in three years. JJ Wetherholt is absolutely going to hit. (Now, throw some salt over your shoulder or find a black cat or whatever so we get this guy some injury luck.)

Let’s build the case starting with the Cardinals roster. The moment the Cardinals traded Brendan Donovan (still kinda hurts, doesn’t it?), Wetherholt became the glaringly obvious choice to start at second. With all due respect to Thomas (the Italian) Saggese and Jose Fermin, Wetherholt’s star shines far brighter. (I wrote about intriguing roles for Saggese and Fermin here!) Gorman can and should get the whole year at third base. Which means that someone needs to play second — good thing we have a consensus top 10 prospect in baseball ready to do just that.

How ready is he? Well, last year in the minors he ran a slash line of .306/.421/.510. Is that interesting to you? Before that he lit the NCAA on fire at West Virginia and only fell to the Cardinals at pick number seven because of a hamstring injury that limited his playing time. (Thank God he got injured? That is incredibly weird to say.) But then at Memphis last year he did something he’d never really done before: He changed his approach to chase pull side air power and clobbered 10 home runs in 47 games, basically because he wanted to without sacrificing any contact rates. By the way, 10 home runs in 47 games is a 34 HR pace for a full season. Could he hit 20-25 home runs in the Lou this year? Yep.

Defensively, there have been question marks about his arm with respect to sticking at shortstop at the major league level. Good thing we have a Gold Glove shortstop that shoots Iron Man lasers out of his arm to first base. You’ll notice the questions at shortstop didn’t include anything about his range or relative ability to make plays. The Cardinals could have a filthy defense up the middle in Winn, Wetherholt, and Victor Scott II (if VS2 can hit at all). Second base seems to be a perfect place for Wetherholt to land defensively — and it sounds to me as though he could spell Winn at short from time to time, too.

So let me get this straight. The bat is ready — Derrick Goold is calling him the best hitter in camp. The glove maybe could stick at shortstop in the big leagues, which means second base is a lock. Then let’s tackle the last hurdle: service time manipulation. It has become a rite of passage for rebuilding franchises with uber prospects to keep them in the minors until early May to ensure another year of control. MLB has taken steps to dampen that down by offering extra draft picks to teams who field the Rookie of the Year. It just so happens that Wetherholt is the odds-on favorite to win that award. Even if we don’t get that extra pick, if Wetherholt is so good that he gets really expensive, that’s fantastic. First, we have a franchise player. Secondly, the Cardinals have wiped the books on payroll and have Elon Musk amounts of money to spend. OK, not quite Musk levels, but you know what I mean.

JJ Wetherholt’s last name means a nook of land where sheep are kept. He strikes me as distinctly more of a goat. Second base in St. Louis is the obvious place to me for this guy to shepherd a pack of all-star appearances. Why delay? Let’s get it started on opening day this year. He’s going to be in a red jacket on the field someday; might as well let him see the festivities now.