The St. Louis Cardinals have one of the top prospects in all of baseball with JJ Wetherholt. He is currently listed as the sixth-best prospect, right ahead of Bubba Chandler, who recently made his debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Wetherholt was drafted with the seventh overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, and he has been tearing up the minor leagues so far. Across 101 games this season, split between Double-A and Triple-A, the young slugger is hitting .306/.421/.513 with 16 home runs, 55 runs batted in, and 21 stolen bases.
Despite his dominance in the minors, the Cardinals have no plans on calling him up and giving him a taste of big-league action. They made their plans clear well before September rolled around, and given his latest injury, this proved to be a good idea.
Cardinals give update on JJ Wetherholt's status
JJ Wetherholt has missed the last five games for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds. However, according to The Athletic's Katie Woo, he returned to the lineup on Wednesday.
"The Cardinals have not entertained calling up top prospect JJ Wetherholt, who is hitting .322 with a 1.015 OPS in 38 games for Triple-A Memphis," said Woo. "Wetherholt, a middle infielder, has not played in his last five scheduled games. He is dealing with general soreness from a non-baseball ailment, per a team spokesperson."
Wetherholt returned to the lineup on Wednesday, hitting leadoff for Memphis. While he went hitless, he did produce a walk and scored a run while striking out once. But it would not be enough as the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp took home the victory by a score of 9-8.