5 prospects the Cardinals will consider drafting in the MLB draft tonight

#1A - JJ Wetherholt (West Virginia)

There are some within the industry who believe JJ Wetherholt may go number one overall to the Cleveland Guardians tonight. So needless to say, if a talent like that is available at number seven, the Cardinals should be all over him.

Wetherholt was seen by most in the industry as the best player in this draft prior to the college baseball season. Honestly, Wetherholt's play on the field did not really do anything to hurt his stock, but a hamstring injury has caused people to wonder if he may fall in this draft.

Wetherholt suffered a grade three hamstring injury early on in the season this year, causing him to miss the next 24 games for West Virginia. Where concerns start to raise even more is that his hamstring concerns actually began the summer prior during the Cape Cod league, so it is unclear how serious of an issue his hamstring will be moving forward.

Still, Wetherholt was incredible when he was on the field in 2024, slashing .331/.472/.589 with eight home runs and 30 RBI in just 36 games played. The season prior, Wetherholt has a 1.304 OPS in 55 games, posting an insane .449 batting average and wowing scouts with his elite bat tool.

Most scouting outlets have Wetherholt's bat at a 65 grade or higher boasting above-average power, arm, fielding, and plus speed. There is some risk that Wetherholt will be a second baseman long-term, but there are a lot of people who feel like he can handle shortstop at the MLB level long-term.

Adding a left-handed bat like Wetherholt to the farm system would be an A+ haul. For as much as we talk about how badly the Cardinals need starting pitching, most of their exciting prospects right now are actually arms. Tink Hence and Quinn Mathews are clearly their top two prospects right now and are getting closer and closer to MLB-ready, while arms like Cooper Hjerpe, Tekoah Roby, and Gordon Graceffo have a long of promise as well. That's not even to mention guys like Ian Bedell, Sem Robberse, Adam Kloffenstein, Michael McGreevy, Zack Showalter, Max Rajcic, Edwin Nunez, or Chen-Wei Lin.

On the position player side of things, after Thomas Saggese and Chase Davis, there is quite a drop. Catchers Jimmy Crooks III and Leonardo Bernal are really intriguing, but Wetherholt would clearly be the best-position player prospect in their system upon being drafted, and probably the best prospect in the entire organization.

Remember, they do not need to draft for need, but the point is, I'd actually argue they are weaker when it comes to position players as things currently stand. Regardless, if Wetherholt is on the board at number seven, he's the best talent available, and I expect the Cardinals would leap at the chance to take him.