The St. Louis Cardinals are in the process of setting their franchise up for the next several years to come and there's bound to be some growing pains en route to the organization being competitive again.

In the past year, the Cardinals have traded away starting pitcher Sonny Gray, closer Ryan Helsley and first baseman/catcher Willson Contreras. Other players, such as second baseman Brendan Donovan, reliever JoJo Romero and third baseman Nolan Areando.

The return St. Louis has received and will receive for these aforementioned veterans will help determine how successful the rebuild is.

The farm system is another important factor of the rebuild.

The Cardinals currently have four players in MLB Pipeline's top 100. The organization's top overall prospect, infielder J.J. Wetherholt, is projected to make his major league debut this upcoming season. He's ranked as the fifth-best prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline.

If St. Louis trades either Donovan or Arenado, it would be reasonable to expect Wetherholt to take over at whatever position is vacated.

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Wetherholt, who was picked with the seventh-overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft out of West Virginia, is regarded by some analysts as the future face of the franchise and those expectations extend into the media.

In a story for the Belleville News-Democrat, Jeff Jones had a lot of praise for and also highlighted the pressure for the former Mountaineer:

It is not an overstatement to say he is the club’s most important position player since Yadier Molina. While he might have arrived and started his professional career under the previous developmental apparatus, he will open his major league career under this administration. His success or failure will play a large part in carrying the team through the coming lean years. It’s a lot to place on him. It’s also the plain truth.

Jones highlighted Houston Astros legend Jose Altuve as a possible career path for Jones.

Altuve debuted for the Astros in 2011. Houston finished that season 56-106 and didn't win more than 70 games until 2015, when it was eliminated in the American League Divisional Series. Two years after that, the Astros won their first World Series in franchise history and Altuve was named the AL MVP that same season.

Those are lofty expectations to place on Wetherholt, but he could be capable of shouldering them.

This past season, Wetherholt slashed .306/.421/.510 with a .931 OPS in 109 games across Double-A and Triple-A. He hit 28 doubles, two triples and 17 home runs with 59 RBIs.

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