Cardinals' Wetherholt Falls Short of Rookie Award, Left Off Two Ballots

Denied the Gold Glove that numerous analytical markers suggested he was worthy of winning, St. Louis Cardinals standout second baseman JJ Wetherholt also saw his bid to win the National League’s Rookie of the Year award fall well short when the results were announced on Monday night.

Wetherholt, MLB’s leader in WAR among all rookies, finished a distant third in the voting for the National League’s Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year, which was won by Cincinnati Reds infielder Sal Stewart.

Mets right fielder Carson Benge, who got seven first-place votes and three second-place votes, finished second in the voting largely because Wetherholt was left off two of the 30 ballots cast for the award.

Wetherholt, 23, garnered three first-place votes, 12 second-place votes, six third-place votes, five fourth-place votes and two fifth-place votes. Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group and MLB.com’s David Venn did not list Wetherholt on their five-player ballots, per voting results released by the BBWAA. Stewart, who was named on all 30 ballots, finished with 170 points, while Benge had 107 points and Wetherholt had 99 points.

Mets right-handed pitcher Nolan McLean, who finished fourth with 70 points, was listed on 29 of the 30 ballots.

Three voters – Keith Law (The Athletic), Brenden Schaeffer (MLB.com) and Andy Martinez (at large, Chicago) – awarded Wetherholt with first-place votes, per the BBWAA.

Wetherholt, Burleson Two of MLB's Analytically "Unluckiest" Hitters in 2026

Wetherholt, the No. 7 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft by the Cardinals, was St. Louis’ top prospect for two years before making his MLB debut this season and homering on Opening Day. Two days later, Wetherholt had a walk-off hit in his second MLB game. And in his third week in the big leagues, Wetherholt authored the first multi-homer game of his young career to help the Cards rally past the Guardians at Busch Stadium.

Wetherholt slashed .242/.339/.365/.704 with 15 doubles, 17 home runs, 51 RBI and 14 stolen bases in 15 attempts in 139 games. Wetherholt, who compiled a 4.5 WAR and a 102 OPS+, exceeded all expectations with his defensive play at second base and his 25 Outs Above Average were the most by any MLB rookie since the defensive metric was created in 2016. Despite that, Milwaukee’s Brice Turang won the Gold Glove award for NL second basemen.

Any shot Wetherholt had of becoming the first Cardinals player to win the Rookie of the Year award since Albert Pujols in 2001 likely died in August when Wetherholt went on the Injured List for 2 ½ weeks because of tendinitis in his left wrist. Wetherholt hit just .200 with five extra-base hits in August and only .250 (8 for 32) in September with one double.

After hitting .259 with 13 homers, 10 doubles and 36 RBI in 90 games before the break for the MLB All-Star Game, Wetherholt hit just .210 with five doubles, four homers and 15 RBI after the All-Star Game.

Stewart, 22, became the ninth Reds player to win the NL Rookie of the Year award. He also became the ninth first baseman to win the NL Rookie of the Year award and the 17th first baseman in both leagues to take home the top rookie honor.

Stewart had a 2.0 WAR and a 117 OPS+ while hitting .263 with 25 doubles, 32 homers and 112 RBI in 162 games. Like Wetherholt, Stewart also faded down the stretch with just one homer and seven RBI in September.

Benge, 23, played well down the stretch for the Mets and slashed .282/.346/.430/.776 with 20 homers, 65 RBI and 22 stolen bases in 27 tries. He struck out 142 times, while walking just 50 times.