Just 71 games into his MLB career and Cardinals' standout rookie JJ Wetherholt already owns the look of a season veteran. Already the top defensive second baseman of 2026, he's currently in his best offensive stretch with a .333 batting average and three homers in June.
From the moment he was first around JJ Wetherholt for an extended period during Spring Training of 2025, Cardinals’ manager Oliver Marmol has never looked at the rookie infielder as some overwhelmed young player just fighting to keep up with the dizzying speed of big-league baseball.
Instead, Marmol has always seen the 23-year-old Wetherholt as someone older than his age and exquisitely comfortable in his own skin – both as a player on baseball’s grandest stage and a person trying to fit into an MLB clubhouse. Even now, 71 games into Wetherholt’s first MLB season, Marmol sees the second baseman more like a veteran at ease than a rookie battling to keep his head above water.
“He’s steady and he’s as consistent as they get,” Marmol said of Wetherholt following the Cardinals 12-10 defeat of the Royals on Sunday, “It’s just so fun to watch what he’s doing. The two homers today and the at bats he’s taking are super professional. I love where he’s at physically and mentally. He’s done a really nice job.”
Has Wetherhold ever done a nice job? In many ways, he not only meeting the lofty expectations set for him before playing his first MLB game, but he’s already exceeding them. After smashing two homers on Sunday to spark two Cardinals rallies, Wetherholt’s homer total is up to 12, and he’s driven in 34 runs from the leadoff spot. He’s slashing .268/.370/.428/.798 with eight doubles and eight stolen bases in eight attempts. His last 15 games have been the best of his young career and that’s saying something for a player who homered in his first game, had a walk-off winner in his second game and recorded his first multi-homer game in his first month. In June, he’s hitting .333, getting on base 40.3 percent of the time and slugging .500 with his three homers, a double and nine RBI and more walks than strikeouts.
“I’ve definitely gotten more relaxed in the box with the amount of at bats I’ve been able to have and I’m just continuing to build and sharpen my tools,” said Wetherholt, whose Cardinals begin a four-game series against the D-Backs on Monday at Busch Stadium. “I’m trying to battle and cover pitches that guys have been beating me with and then have some success on those pitches. Then, it’s onto the next pitch. Guys have started to mix me more and more and it’s just about adjusting to the way they pitch me.”
Next-level analysis already for Wetherholt, who impressed teammate Michael McGreevy in this season’s Spring Training with his willingness to take walks instead of chasing pitches to try and show everyone that he belonged at the big-league level as the organization’s No. 1 prospect.
And Wetherholt has carried his advanced plate discipline and awareness of who he is as a hitter into the games that count. The underlying metrics show that he already ranks in MLB’s top 80th percentile in squared up rate (29 percent), 76th percentile in hard-hit rate (45.7) and 71st percentile in average exit velocity (90.4 mph), per Baseball Savant. Not only that, but he rarely chases pitches out of the zone (22.3 percent, 88th percentile) and already has an elite strikeout rate (15.7 percent, 81st percentile) that most established big leaguers would love to have.
Then, there’s this: MLB hitters ground out 44.2 percent of the time, but Wetherholt does it just 40.4 percent of the time. Big leaguers are all trying to get the ball into the air and they only do it 55.9 percent of the time, while Wetherholt comes in at a 59.6 percent clip. As for making clean, solid contact with the baseball, Wetherholt’s 10.3 percent success rate is nearly twice as great as the rest of MLB’s (5.9 percent).
Marmol could tell first the start that Wetherholt was an advanced hitter with his ability to drive the ball the other way. Often, it is the hardest thing to teach a young hitter who is more eager jump pitches and become dead pull hitters. Wetherholt’s maturity cane be seen with his patience in waiting on pitches and slapping them the other way – as he did on Sunday with a second-inning homer the other way.
“That’s one of his strengths – staying on the baseball and hitting it that way,” Marmol said. “One of his first homers in Spring Training came when he stood up on one that way. … He definitely has that ability and it’s a skill that’s not easily taught.”
Wetherholt has been even better defensively
As advanced as Wetherholt has been at the plate, he’s been even more impressive with the glove. In 280 total chances, he has committed just two errors and has a hand in 38 double plays. To put that into perspective, Cardinals Gold Glove shortstop Masyn Winn has committed seven errors in 2026 in 300 total chances. Winn was historically great in 2025, committing just three errors in 501 total chances in capturing his first of what could become many Gold Gloves.
Advanced metrics view Wetherholt as one of the best defensive second basemen in the game already. In terms of Outs Above Average, Wetherholt (14) ranks third in baseball behind Gold Glovers Bobby Witt Jr. (16) and Pete Crow-Armstrong (15) – and well ahead of the next closest second baseman (Luis Arraez, 10).
Baseball Savant’s computers have given Wetherholt an expected defensive success rate of 73 percent and he’s been 5 percent better than this. His Fielding Run Value (13) is in their top 100th percentile.
Like at the plate, he’s already at the top of the class and he just might be the National League’s top rookie if he can keep it up. The last Cardinals first-year player to win the Rookie of the Year award was Albert Pujols in 2001, so Wetherholt could be blazing a trail to join some elite company.
“I’ve been able to make some plays, and really any way that I can impact the team, that’s what I’m trying to do,” Wetherholt said recently of his defensive work. “I’m always looking for ways to have an impact on this team. I’ve been able to do that, but I’ve got to keep working hard to help the team as much as I can.”
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