Having already accomplished so many significant firsts in his MLB rookie season, Cardinals' standout JJ Wetherholt did something on Friday night that many veteran MLB players have never done before in their careers.

A "Little League Grand Slam" had the 23-year-old rookie smiling from ear to ear in Friday's fifth inning of an eventual 6-0 pummeling of the Padres at Petco Park.

Up with the bases loaded following singles by Masyn Winn and Nathan Church and a walk to Victor Scott, Wetherholt laced a hard-hit single on the ground to right field. Looking to potentially throw out Church at home, Padres' Platinum Glover Fernando Tatis Jr. misplayed the ball and saw it toll to the wall.

Scott, of course, used his blinding speed to score easily from first base. As for the speedy Wetherholt, he never broke stride after the ball got by Machado and he rounded the bases as his helmet and arm guard went flying. Cardinals players migrated to the top step of the dugout and vigorously waved Wetherholt hold along the third base line.

Screaming with joy as he crossed the plate, Wetherholt didn't even have to slide, and he celebrated with Winn, Church, Scott and Ivan Herrera.

"That's up there, for sure, because that was fun," Wetherholt told Apple TV when comparing the four-run sequence with other pivotal moments in his young MLB career. "Probably that first-game homer (against the Rays on March 26) is going to take everything, but that was sweet.

"I'm just trying to continue to help us win games. And when cool stuff like that happens, you definitely remember it." 

Wetherholt, who came into the game fourth among all MLB rookies in RBI, was credited with a hit and one RBI. The other three runs were attached to Tatis' three-base error.

It was MLB’s first “Little League Grand Slam” since Colorado’s Michael Toglia did it to the Cardinals on June 7, 2024, per Elias Sports Bureau. Wetherholt was the first Cardinal to record the “Little League Grand Slam” since Dal Maxvill did it on July 13, 1967.

“(His Cardinals teammates) were just trying to let me breathe because I needed to, but they were super fired up,” Wetherholt said. “But that was big for us because we weren’t scratching any runs and that kind of opened up the game for us.”

Wetherholt, the top prospect in the Cardinals Minor League system since being the No. 7 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, homered in his MLB debut and had a walk-off, game-winning hit in the second game of his career. He had his first multi-homer game against the Guardians on April 14. Back near his hometown of Mars, Pa., Wetherholt hit a game-tying home run in a comeback win against the Pirates on April 27, and he led off the April 30 game with a towering homer off Cy Young award-winner Paul Skenes.

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