JJ Wetherholt, a leading candidate for the National League's Rookie of the Year award, was placed on the 10-day Injured List by the Cardinals on Sunday. Wetherholt, 23, has struggled at the plate since the break for the MLB All-Star Game, hitting just .201 and seeing his OPS drop to .618.
Mired in his worst month at the plate in what has been an otherwise stellar rookie season, Cardinals’ standout JJ Wetherholt was put on the 10-day Injured List with right wrist tendinitis on Sunday.
Wetherholt, a leading candidate for the National League’s Rookie of the Year award, has been forced to move from second base to shortstop over the past nine games because Masyn Winn (fractured left thumb) is also on the Injured List. With the wrist soreness bothering him much of the past month, Wetherholt said the pain ultimately became too great and forced him off the field.
"The diagnosis was that if the pain doesn't increase, we could continue to go about (managing it), and obviously I was on medicine and doing treatment every day and it was manageable, but these pas three or four days have been pretty bad," Wetherholt said prior to Sunday's series finale against the Pirates. "We've been trying to incorporate some rest and stuff like that, but my body was just not really responding to it."
Thomas Saggese, who was recalled from Triple-A Memphis on Friday when Blaze Jordan (left ankle sprain) went on the 10-day IL, started at shortstop on Sunday and he could be there on Tuesday when the Cardinals face the back-to-back champion Dodgers in Los Angeles.
Wetherholt, 23, plans to travel to Arizona in the coming days to get a second look at his wrist while the Cardinals are on a road trip where they will face the Dodgers, Rockies and Giants.
was the Cardinals’ top Minor League prospect in 2024 and 2025 after being selected with the No. 7 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft. He has blossomed into a franchise cornerstone in his first MLB season, slashing .242/.343/.370/.713 with 17 homers, 14 doubles, 48 RBI and 14 stolen bases in 15 tries in 130 games played.
The native of Mars, Pa., has done all of that while quickly becoming one of the best second basemen in baseball. In 115 games at second base, he has made just two errors and has been a part of 72 doubles plays in 491 total chances. Also, he hasn’t made an error in 96 2/3 innings at shortstop while filling in for the injured Winn.
Wetherholt’s 22 Outs Above Average rank third in MLB, trailing only the 25 of Royals superstar Bobby Witt Jr. and the 23 for Cubs Most Valuable Player candidate Pete Crow-Armstrong. His 22 Outs Above Average are 10 more than the next closest National League second baseman (Milwaukee’s Brice Turang, 12).
Cards are betting on Wetherholt's bright future
The Cardinals showed their trust and belief in the future of the sure-handed middle infielder by rewarding him with an eight-year, $112.5 million contract that could be worth as much as $132 million with incentives. The contract includes no opt-out clauses for either side, meaning he will likely be wearing the birds on a bat across his chest for much of the next decade ahead.
The wear and tear of the long season has seemed to take its toll on the 5-foot-9, 190-pound Wetherholt. Since the break for the MLB All-Star Game, he has slashed just .201/.313/.305/.618 with four doubles, four home runs and 12 RBI in 40 games. By comparison, Wetherholt slashed .259/.356/.399/.755 with 10 doubles, 13 home runs and 36 RBI in his first 90 games of the season as the Cardinals lead-off hitter.
Wetherholt has also struggled while hitting in spacious Busch Stadium despite a glorious start to his MLB career at his home stadium. He homered in his MLB debut, drilled a walk-off single in his second big-league game and recorded his first multi-homer game at Busch Stadium in an April 14 win over the Guardians. However, he has hit just .222 with only seven homers, three doubles and 17 RBI in 65 games at Busch Stadium this season. Conversely, he batted .261 with 10 homers, 11 doubles and 31 RBI in 65 road games this season.
The time on the Injured List could further dampen Wetherholt’s chances of becoming the first Cardinals player since Albert Pujols in 2001 to win the National League’s Rookie of the Year award. Cincinnati infielder Sal Stewart, Wetherholt’s top competition for the award has heated up over the second half of the season and he leads MLB in RBI (104), while also hitting 30 home runs and smacking 24 doubles.
