This exciting trio may be the rising tide that lifts all boats for the Cardinals

I don't think we talk enough right now about how exciting the top of the St. Louis Cardinals lineup could be in 2026.

JJ Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera, and Alec Burleson have the talent to be a fearsome trio for opposing pitchers to face night in and night out. While the rest of the lineup is certainly a major question mark, the Cardinals have something real to build on with these three hitters in their lineup.

Burleson is coming off his first Silver Slugger campaign, posting a .290/.343/.459 slash line with 18 home runs and 69 RBI in 546 plate appearances. Burleson has produced better results each season of his big league career, and he now comfortably slots into the middle of the Cardinals' lineup as a run producer.

Herrera, who only managed to play in 107 games last year due to various injuries, was even better than Burleson at the plate, posting a 137 wRC+ to go along with his .284/.373/.464 slash line, 19 home runs, and 66 RBI. Whether he catches or slots in as the designated hitter this year, he's already established himself as a top bat in the game, ranking 26th in wRC+ (129) among all hitters with 750+ plate appearances since he debuted in 2022.

Now arrives Mr. Wetherholt, one of the favorites for the National League Rookie of the Year award and slotted to start at second base for the Cardinals this year. Wetherholt was lights out in Double-A and Triple-A in 2025, slashing .306/.421/.510 with 17 home runs and 59 RBI in just 109 games, with his 154 wRC+ ranking among the best hitters in the minor leagues. He already looks like he's in midseason form in camp for the Cardinals, and he's got the talent and the confidence to hit the ground running this year.

All of this has me wondering, how impactful could this trio be in 2026? Do they have the kind of talent that could raise the rest of the Cardinals' offense up?

JJ Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera, and Alec Burleson are a fearsome trio for the top of the Cardinals lineup in 2026

I've played around with various lineup constructions ideas going into this season, but at this point, I don't see why Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol shouldn't just stack the top of his order by batting Wetherholt leadoff, Herrera in the two-hole, and Burleson batting third.

While guys like Masyn Winn, Nolan Gorman, and Jordan Walker could take steps forward at the plate this year, and the eventual return of Lars Nootbaar will add a nice bat to the mix, there is so much potential synergy for that trio to do damage for the Cardinals if they are slotted back-to-back-to-back at the top of the Cardinals lineup. Here are some of the many reasons why I see that:

1. Bat to ball skills. Burleson (.290) and Herrera (.284) both ranked in the top 25 hitters in baseball in batting average last year, and that is one of Wetherholt's superpowers as he makes his way into Major League Baseball this year. Do I expect Wetherholt to be a .300 hitter like he was last year? No, but posting a .270 batting average with one of the better on-base percentages in the spot is certainly on the table.

2. On-base skills. Speaking on on-base percentage, Herrera ranked 10th in all of baseball in OBP last season (.373), and Wetherholt will look to compete with him to be the Cardinals' OBP king. Putting two on-base machines as the top of the Cardinals' lineup, right in front of one of the best hitters for average in the sport last year (Burleson), who blends it with above-average power, and you've got a recipe for runs early and often.

3. Sneaky power. See how each of these bleeds into the next? No one is going to mistake this trio for home run merchants, but all three mix their high batting averages and on-base skills with extra-base potential. All three could post 30+ doubles, with Burleson and Herrera having 25+ home run power and Wetherholt having the potential to settle in between 15-20 home runs.

4. Low strikeout numbers. In a game where swing-and-miss has become the norm for many middle-of-the-order bats, it is difficult to find three bats as impactful as those three can be who strikeout as little as they do in other lineups. Burleson struck out in just 14.1% of his at-bats last year, while Herrera went down on strikes just 18.6% of the time. Wetherholt only struck out 14.7% of the time in 2025, and ZiPS currently has his K% projected to be 16.4% in 2026.

Only 17 hitters in all of baseball last year posted a 124 wRC+ or higher with an 18.6 K% or lower, and two of those hitters were Herrera and Burleson. It's not fair to ask Wetherholt to join them in the same wRC+ tier in 2026, but adding another low strikeout hitter who has a high ceiling at the plate presents a lot of intrigue.

5. Herrera's LHP mashing. Slotting Herrera right in between Wetherholt and Burleson should, in theory, provide the pair with protection against southpaws late in games, though you could argue flipping Burleson and Herrera may help with that as well.

Assuming Victor Scott II is batting ninth in this lineup, opposing teams may want to go to a lefty in games in order to shut down Scott, and more importantly, Wetherholt and Burleson. Wetherholt slashed .278/.372/.508 against lefties in the minors last year, so while they have more success against him, they haven't proven to be an issue for him yet. Burleson used to be really bad against lefties, but he improved to just slightly below-average in 2026. While that's not terrible, it's also a major step down from the 132 wRC+ he posts against righties.

That's where Herrera's superpower comes into play. Herrera's 205 wRC+ against left-handed pitchers was second-best in all of baseball behind only Aaron Judge, and was the third-best platoon advantage in the game last year behind Judge and Nick Kurtz. If teams decide to go to southpaws to try to neutralize the Cardinals' left-handed bats, Herrera is poised to do major damage.

My preference is to go Wetherholt-Herrera-Burleson to top the Cardinals lineup, but Wetherholt-Burleson-Herrera could work really well too, especially if they want to slide Nootbaar into the clean-up spot when he returns. Either way, those three being at the top of the order feels like a clear-cut decision for Marmol this year.

Until other bats in the lineup prove they belong up there, I don't see the arguement for anyone else. I'm a big believer in Masyn Winn, but his 85 wRC+ from the lead-off spot in 516 plate appearances hasn't shown me he can run with that spot. Though I do think it's at least notable that he has a 107 wRC+ in 273 plate appearances from the two-hole. Victor Scott's speed would be a nightmare at the top of the lineup, but he has to dramatically improve his .206/.283/.293 career slash line before that's a real conversation.

Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman have the talent to be impact bats, but they have to figure out their own issues before they can be relied upon like that. Walker will never be reliable as long as he continues to swing religiously at the low and away pitches, and Gorman has to figure out how to blend his power with appropriate levels of swing-and-miss.

I have a lot of confidence in the trio of Wetherholt-Herrera-Burleson at the top of the Cardinals' lineup, but whether or not they have enough juice to lift up the rest of the Cardinals' lineup is a major question mark. Unless all three of those guys perform to their top-end projections, they are going to need help from some of these unknowns in the lineup. Can Walker and Gorman regain their promise from 2023? Nootbaar's performed at high-levels before, will he get back to that post-surgery? Do Winn and Scott have extra gears they can go to? Does a new face like Joshua Baez provide some of those answers soon?

The Cardinals don't have to go nine-deep to be a good offense in 2026, but they need more than just their top three guys to produce if they want to be anything more than mediocre or bad. Last year's lineup finished 19th in wRC+ (96) and in runs scored (689), carried primarily by four big bats in Herrera (137 wRC+), Burleson (124 wRC+), Willson Contreras (124 wRC+), and Brendan Donovan (119 wRC+). No other hitters with 50 or more plate appearances posted an above-average wRC+.

This year's lineup could be very similar, with Herrera, Burleson, Wetherholt, and Nootbaar doing the heavy lifting, and the rest of the lineup producing below-average results. The hope would be that a few of these other young bats "pop", and then things could end up being really interesting for the offense.

For now, I would advise Marmol to play his best cards at the top of the lineup to start the year. They might as well get their best bats as many opportunities as possible, and see if placing them together leads to more run production as they seek other answers in the lineup.