St. Louis Cardinals top prospects JJ Wetherholt and Joshua Baez continued their excellent spring seasons on Monday, as they both hit home runs in the Cardinals' 7-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles within Grapefruit League play.

For Wetherholt, he's hitting .278 through nine spring games. He has two home runs, six RBIs, seven walks and just four strikeouts.

As for Baez, who we covered on Sunday, he's hitting .333 with three home runs, five RBIs and a stolen base. He has a .417 on-base percentage.

Ranked as the No. 5 prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline, Wetherholt is projected to make his debut this season: It's just a question of when. At this rate, the infielder is making a case for the Opening Day roster.

A versatile infielder who can play second, short or third in the future, Wetherholt was drafted No. 7 overall by the Cardinals in 2024 out of West Virginia. His debut is likely to be the most exciting part of this season's rebuild for fans, and with Brendan Donovan and Nolan Arenado both traded in the offseason, he will have an opportunity at second or third as the season progresses.

Playing 109 games between Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis in 2025, he hit .306 with 17 home runs, 59 RBIs and 23 stolen bases.

Ranked as the No. 87 prospect in the game by MLB Pipeline, Baez could also find himself on the Opening Day roster.

A second-round pick of the Cardinals in 2021 out of Florida State, he's also battling for an Opening Day roster spot.

He hit .287 across High-A and Double-A in 2025, spending 79 games at the latter. He had 20 home runs and 79 RBIs, and he stole a whopping 54 bases.

Baseball America actually had him as the No. 54 prospect in the sport. Baez is just 22 years old.

--Speaking of prospects, the Cardinals, were given a healthy grade from MLB Pipeline for the overall totality of the farm system. After solid returns in trades for Donovan, Arenado, Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray, the Cardinals now have the No. 4-ranked system in the sport. That doesn't necessarily help fans feel better about the team's organizational rebuild, but it does provide some optimism for the future.

--Kyle Leahy threw four brilliant innings for the Cardinals on Saturday against the New York Mets, strengthening his case for an Opening Day starting rotation spot.

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