Royals' Jac Caglianone set to make MLB debut; when will Cardinals' JJ Wetherholt?

The 2024 No. 6 overall draft pick and Kansas City Royals top prospect Jac Caglianone will be making his Major League Baseball debut against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday, June 3rd at Busch Stadium. Caglianone is one of baseball's top prospects, and he's been mashing minor-league pitchers for the last year. He is quite worthy of a promotion to the highest level of baseball.

Across Double-A and Triple-A this year, Caglianone has a .322/.389/.593 slash line with 15 home runs and 56 RBIs through only 229 plate appearances. He's been an exceptional hitter, and he's ready for the majors.

Caglianone was selected sixth overall in the 2024 MLB Draft by the Royals, just one spot ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals, who selected infielder JJ Wetherholt. These two former top players at the collegiate level will be intertwined for many years to come, as they were both touted as elite hitting prospects who were drafted side-by-side.

With Jac Caglianone's promotion now a reality, when can we as Cardinals fans expect our own top prospect and former top-10 draft pick JJ Wetherholt to make his Major League Debut?

The two players were selected with back-to-back picks in the 2024 MLB Draft, so it's only logical that Jac Caglianone and JJ Wetherholt will be linked and compared for the next decade of their careers.

Jac will make his debut 324 days after being selected sixth overall in the draft. Meanwhile, JJ is playing (quite well, might I add) in Double-A with the Springfield Cardinals. The two are taking much different paths to the majors.

There's quite a discrepancy in their respective organizations, however. While yes, the Cardinals are in a self-proclaimed "youth movement", their need for middle infielders isn't great. Brendan Donovan, Nolan Arenado, Masyn Winn, and Nolan Gorman currently occupy infield spots in the majors. In fact, Thomas Saggese probably ranks ahead of Wetherholt on the infielder depth chart as far as prospects go.

Meanwhile, the Kansas City Royals rank ahead of only the Colorado Rockies in outfielder WAR according to Baseball Savant. It was an easy and necessary decision for the Royals to promote Caglianone after he's been destroying minor-league pitching; the path was quite free and clear.

The same simply can't be said for Wetherholt.

JJ's path to the majors is much more methodical, much more calculated. He was coming off a major injury in February of 2024, which limited his playing time during his final year. After being drafted, he was sent to Low-A Palm Beach, where he walked more than he struck out and posted a .295/.405/.400 slash line.

Wetherholt is currently posting a .275/.398/.412 slash line with three home runs, 17 RBIs, and seven stolen bases through 37 games and 161 plate appearances in Springfield. He is still walking more (15.5%) than he is striking out (13.%), so that is encouraging.

The issue with Wetherholt's promotion, at least this year, is the plethora of players ahead of him. Brendan Donovan is playing second base more often than not for the Cardinals this year, Wetherholt's secondary position, but his projected position as a major leaguer. Nolan Gorman is also primarily a second baseman.

Want to move Wetherholt to third base? He'll have to outplay a future Hall of Famer and a six-time Platinum Glove recipient in Nolan Arenado. Let's not even start on shortstop for Wetherholt.

So, despite Jac Caglianone's promotion and Wetherholt's sound handling of Double-A pitching, don't expect the 22-year-old infielder up in the majors anytime soon. If the Cardinals are able to trade one or both Nolans either this deadline or in the offseason, the timeline for Wetherholt's promotion is accelerated. Otherwise, he's going to be developing for a little while longer.