Cardinals Infielder Earns First of Likely Many Offseason Rookie Awards

The first of what figures to be many rookie awards were announced on Wednesday when St. Louis Cardinals standout second baseman JJ Wetherholt was named to MLB Pipeline’s All-Rookie squad.

Wetherholt, who led all National League rookies in WAR at 4.6, was named to the first team at second base.

The top Minor League prospect in the Cardinals’ organization since he was selected No. 7 in the 2024 MLB Draft, Wetherholt homered in his first MLB game, drilled a walk-off-winning hit in his second game, and the 23-year-old rising star certainly didn’t disappoint in his first season in the big leagues.

Wetherholt posted an OPS+ of 102 and a 101 wRC+ in 139 games despite being slowed much of the past month with tendinitis in his right wrist. He slashed .242/.339/.365/.704 with 15 doubles, 17 homers and 51 RBI. He also swiped 14 bases in 15 tries from the leadoff spot for the Cardinals. His low chase rate (21.2 percent, 94th percentile) led to a low strikeout rate (16.8 percent, 77th percentile) and a solid walk rate (10.3 percent, 65th percentile), per Baseball Savant.

Wetherholt also showed off his superior bat-to-ball skills with a 30.1 percent squared-up rate (87th percentile) and a 44.9 percent hard-hit rate (76th percentile). Based on his quality of contact and solid average launch angles, Wetherholt was deemed one of MLB’s “unluckiest” hitters in 2026 with him having an expected batting average of .255, an expected slugging percentage of .435 and an expected wOBA of .347. The difference between Wetherholt’s actual batting average, slugging percentage and wOBA and what was expected based on the high quality of his contact was minus-.112 points, the fourth-highest total among MLB hitters in 2026.

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As good as Wetherholt was offensively he was even better defensively. His 25 Outs Above Average were the most ever recorded by a rookie since the creation of the defensive metric in 2026, and it ranked second in all baseball behind Pete Crow-Armstrong’s 26 Outs Above Average. He earned a Fielding Run Value of 23 (100th percentile) and 25 in terms of fielding range (100th percentile), per Baseball Savant.

Pittsburgh’s Brandon Lowe was the next-closest NL second baseman in Outs Above Average with 15, meaning Wetherholt is likely a strong favorite to win a Gold Glove in his first MLB season. He could be poised to join Brendan Donovan (2022) as the only rookies in the storied history of the Cardinals to win a Gold Glove.

Wetherholt’s stability and enormous promise led the Cardinals to sign him to an eight-year contract extension that could be worth as much as $132 million. The extension doesn’t begin until the 2027 season and there are no opt-outs or team options, meaning Wetherholt will likely be wearing the birds on the bat across his chest for much of the next decade.

Fellow Cardinals’ rookies Josha Baez and Leo Bernal, who made big splashes over the final six weeks of the MLB season, failed to make the first or second All-Rookie teams. Baez set MLB history on Aug. 15 when he homered in the first three at bats of his big-league career. Bernal, who was promoted from Triple-A Memphis to the Cardinals on Aug. 31, drove in 21 runs in 24 games, but he lost out on All-Rookie awards to first-teamer Carter Jensen (27 homers in 149 games) and second-teamer Joe Mack (14 homers in 105 games).