This overlooked prospect seems poised for a Cardinals spring training breakout

Now that Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray, and Willson Contreras have all been shipped off to contenders — beginning the St. Louis Cardinals' rebuild in earnest at long last — the Redbirds figure to feature one of the youngest rosters in the league in 2026 and beyond,

Take a look at the projected Opening Day roster. The oldest players on the positional side are Brendan Donovan (29) and Lars Nootbar (28), assuming they aren't also traded. Dustin May and Kyle Leahy (both 28) are the elder statesmen in the rotation. Ryne Stanek (34) and Riley O'Brien (31) are the only players older than 30 expected to make the team.

While that means there's going to be a lot of growing pains in St. Louis this year, it also suggests that there will be opportunities aplenty for prospects and unsung youngsters to take a job and run with it. Spring training will be the first time those opportunities arise, and you can be sure the Cardinals won't be shy with giving their end-of-roster guys a chance to shine in the exhibition slate.

That bodes well for someone like César Prieto, who has yet to really prove what he can do with regular playing time at the MLB level.

César Prieto could emerge as Cardinals' next great utility man in 2026

Unlike the fanfare surrounding players like Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman when they were called up, there wasn't a whole lot of pomp and circumstance when Prieto finally got the call in 2025.

However, the fact that he made his MLB debut at all is key, since it means that he's already on the 40-man roster. To win a job on the Opening Day roster, all the 26-year-old will need to do is prove that he's better than the Cardinals' other utility bench options.

That's not going to be easy seeing as both Thomas Saggese and José Fermin proved their MLB chops last year, though the path to playing time for Prieto is a lot easier to see if Donovan winds up getting dealt. Either way, it helps the latter's case that he's a capable defender at each of second base, third base, and shortstop, which makes him a movable chess piece depending on match ups and days off.

Prieto's calling card at the plate is his bat-to-ball skills — the man simply hates striking out. He's never been punched out more than 15% of the time in any pro season of his career, and he even started showing some nice plate disicipline in Triple-A last year when he bumped his walk rate to 7.6%. Because of a general lack of power (.152 ISO in Memphis), he'll never be a Silver Slugger candidate, but his on-base skills were enough to earn him a 112 wRC+ before getting the call last season. If he can replicate anything close to that at the major-league level, his versatile defense should handle the rest.

Now that the Cardinals are without their veteran All-Stars, there will be a clamoring for the next face of the franchise to emerge sooner or later. But as fans of this team know all too well, it's the role players who often define great teams. It may not be as exciting as finding their next MVP, but the Redbirds would have a huge win on their hands if Prieto can develop into a reliable utility player.