Rebuilds are never fun, and as the Cardinals plunge into one for the first time in decades there hasn’t been much for fans in St. Louis to get excited about. Trades that shipped out Willson Contreras, Sonny Gray, and Nolan Arenado were as much about clearing money off the books as they were about bringing in meaningful talent. Even the Brendan Donovan trade, which secured a strong haul of picks and prospects, is unlikely to impact the big league club in 2026. One thing fans can get excited about in the short term is top prospect JJ Wetherholt.
The No. 7 overall pick in the 2024 draft has made good on that lofty slot since entering pro ball. After a solid cup of coffee at Single-A in his draft year, Wetherholt’s performance exploded in 2025 when he slashed .306/.421/.510 across 109 games split between the Double-A and Triple-A level. That would be impressive for virtually any prospect, but it’s especially so for Wetherholt, who is just 22 years old and adds strong infield defense and impressive baserunning to his well-rounded game. That package is enough to make him a consensus top 10 prospect in the sport entering this season.
The Cardinals have made clear that they plan to give their top prospect the opportunity to make the big league roster out of camp. He just ripped his first homer of the spring this morning, taking Devin Williams deep to dead center (video courtesy of Tim Kanak). A spot in the Opening Day lineup should be much easier to come by now that Donovan has been dealt to Seattle, but Wetherholt will still have competition from other players on the roster. Nolan Gorman and Masyn Winn figure to lock down third base and shortstop, leaving second base to a competition between Wetherholt, Thomas Saggese, Jose Fermin, and Ramon Urias.
Since the Cardinals don’t expect to compete in 2026, their priority is seeing what they have with their current group of young players. Urias, 32 in June, is on a one-year deal and is more of a steady bench piece than an impact addition. From St. Louis’ perspective, it makes more sense to have Urias waiting in the wings to take over somewhere on the infield in case of an injury or a younger player struggling to perform. Looking at the other three options, Wetherholt is the highest-upside option and arguably has the highest floor.
Fermin hit quite well for the Cardinals in 30 games last year but has typically struggled on the offense over his three years in the majors. He seems best suited for a utility role. Saggese, 24 in April, hit just .258/.299/.342 in 82 games last year while playing average defense between shortstop, third base, and second base. Perhaps he could take a step forward with regular at bats and some additional big league experience, but his chances at making the roster are complicated by the fact that he was at his worst defensively (-5 OAA) when playing second base.
That would seem to leave Wetherholt with a clear path toward starting at second base for the Cardinals, but there are other considerations to keep in mind. If Wetherholt does not begin the year on the Opening Day roster, the Cardinals could squeeze and extra year of service time out of their up-and-coming superstar. Perhaps that’s enough reason for the Cardinals to go with someone like Saggese at second base for the first few weeks, especially given the fact that Wetherholt has spent just 16.6% of his defensive innings in the minors at second base. It could be argued that getting him additional reps at the keystone could be beneficial. On the other hand, Wetherholt could earn a full year of service time regardless, if he finishes top two in NL Rookie of the Year voting. Breaking camp with him also opens the Cards up to earning future draft picks via MLB’s prospect promotion incentive program.
How do MLBTR readers expect the Cardinals to handle their second base camp battle? Will Wetherholt force his way onto the big league roster? Will they instead give someone like Saggese or Fermin the first look? Or will none of the three youngsters take the job confidently enough to stop St. Louis from defaulting to the veteran presence of Urias? Have your say in the poll below:
Who will start at second base for the Cardinals on Opening Day 2026?
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JJ Wetherholt 71% (2,890)
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Ramon Urias 13% (538)
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Thomas Saggese 12% (494)
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Jose Fermin 4% (148)
Total votes: 4,070
At first glance I thought I saw that his last name was Wetherbolt. It would’ve been a nice nickname to be possibly be the new “Bringer of Rain” moniker
Yes, based solely on having the coolest name.
Harry Cheek was born 120 years too early. Same with Butts Wagner and Buttercup Dickerson
If he was going to make the opening day roster in 2026 why wasnt he called up last September?
September cups of coffee for top prospects aren’t always necessary. That’s why there are issues with service time manipulation in the first place.
Besides, at the time, the Cardinals still had Donovan and Arenado blocking him. While Arenado was injured for the first half of September, they knew he was coming back in the middle of the month and owed it to him to prove he was healthy and productive again before the end of the season, which he did.
Donovan can play multiple positions he wasnt blocking anyone.
If the team planned on him being on the roster opening day 2026 it would have promoted him last September. Thats just how it works.
That’s not always how it works.
Thats almost always how it works. Not how it worked for Jordan Walker. And what happened with Walker didnt work……
“almost always”
D. Baldwin
N. Kurtz
P. Skenes
J. Rodriguez
M. Harris II
5 of the last 8 ROY winners had zero MLB experience prior to the season they won the award.
And how many of those guys made the opening day roster? Because thats what we are talking about……
Skenes would have made the Opening day roster had the Pirates not been too cheap that they manipulated his service time in spite of the new conditions, which then backfired on them. There have also been plenty of legitimate examples like Julio Rodriguez, especially now that there’s only a 28-man September roster.
As for Donovan, yes he can play many positions, but he only played 2B last September with the OF already full along with Contreras at 1B and Gorman and then Arenado playing at 3B. (He did miss the first part of the month to injury, but like with Arenado, the Cardinals knew he was coming back soon.) Saggese played 2B in Donovan’s absence and then moved to SS when Donovan came back and Winn got hurt. There just wasn’t any room for Weatherholt to get decent playing time then.
The rosters only expand by 2 now in September and it has fundamentally changed how call ups are handled.
That’s not at all how it works anymore.
Since the rule changes? Baldwin and Rodriguez both did. Skenes showed exactly why you should get a guy on the Opening Day roster if they’re ready. The Pirates really screwed that one up.
I’ll second belkiolle’s point about current Sept. roster size rules.
Also, Wetherholt wasn’t on the 40 man roster last year (and still isn’t as of today). Pretty much every team has some degree of 40 man roster crunch in the offseason, because the 60-day IL goes away a few days after the World Series and doesn’t come back until spring training. Adding a player to the 40-man just for a Sept. call-up, if he won’t otherwise need to be added for Rule 5 draft protection during the offseason, takes up a 40 man roster spot during the offseason.
All the fans wanted Walker and VS2 on the opening day roster(s) too. lol.
Fair enough on Walker.
Scott making the Opening Day roster in 2024 was only an emergency situation that nobody really wanted. In 2025, he rightfully won the kept the starting CF job all season. While he has hit much yet, he still hit better than he did in 2024, while his excellent defense and baserunning still make him the best overall CF option the Cardinals have, assuming they still don’t want Nootbaar playing CF on a regular basis.
*hasn’t* hit much yet…
On an interesting side note, Scott and Wetherholt were teammates at WVU for a season. As a Mountaineer season ticket holder, I am sure Cardinals fans are going to love Wetherholt. He is a lot of fun to watch. I wouldn’t be worried about him anywhere on the infield. His freshman year was mostly at third, sophomore season was at second and junior season at shortstop. He also has a lot of experience singing Country Roads!
Cardinals fans love prospects until they see them have a few bad games then they bail on them and hate them.
Give them a hustling gritty white boy with mediocre numbers, and they will love them to death.
Who is the hustling gritty white boy? Pretty sure the fan favorite is Winn who had plenty of bad games the first year he was up. Last player I remember them loving to death is Yadi.
They clung to Brendan Donovan until thy moment they no longer could.
Not really. They were “trying” to compete last year. Until they no longer could would be when he hits free agency.
Stubby Clapp.
I meant the fans, Del.
They are hell bent on starting JJ if you listen to the sports talk shows in the St Louis area.
It’s all but guaranteed he’ll make the Opening Day roster, and rightfully so.
I may be biased because I have him in dynasty, but I think JJ will be NL RoY. Very bright future ahead!
I have him as well, hoping for big things. I also have Caissie, Ballesteros and as long as he doesn’t start up in the bigs I’ll have Griffin too! So my rookie class will be super strong with those 4
That is a very nice looking young group to build from, jealous!
St Louis is not trying to contend. They have the ability to put him at 2B w/o bumping an established player, or risking their opportunities for this year.
They aren’t trying to contend. Why burn up a year of service time when the team has no chance of winning?
To do right by the player and to try to get that extra draft pick, as opposed to possibly giving up the year of service time anyway.
Besides, the Cardinals never manipulated service time even before the current set of consequences and incentives.
If he was going to start on opening day why wasnt he with the big league club in September?
I answered that above.
He homered in today’s game
Wetherholt is going to break camp.
Your article title and your poll question are asking two different things. I expect Weatherholt will be the starter at 2B right away, but even if he doesn’t get the starting job, it would take a horrible Spring Training for Weatherholt to not make the MLB roster at all for Opening Day.
You could argue that if Weatherholt not the starter then he should play every day in AAA, but I think he’s fully developed to where he has no need for that and would still merit a spot on the MLB bench even if he he’s not starting right away.
The only problem with this is that it would probably mean Saggese is the starter, but there’s probably not room for all three of Weatherholt, Urias, and Fermin on the bench, while Urias has too much service time and Fermin is out of options for either of them to be sent to AAA. Then again, the Cardinals are reportedly trying to get Fermin (and Saggese) to learn to also play LF, so who knows?
When Wetherholt gets the call to be a big leaguer he will be an everyday player. He isnt coming up to sit on the bench or even to be moved around to different positions.
Saggese isnt a starter hes a bench guy who maybe can earn a starting role eventually. Urias is going to play a lot. Fermin might be used to keep Wetherholt down.
That’s probably true, but as I mentioned it is actually possible that he starts the season on the MLB bench. Either way, he’s almost certainly going to be on the Opening Day roster.
Saggese is much closer to being a starter than Urias and Fermin are. If Weatherholt doesn’t get the job, Saggese is clearly next on the depth chart. Either way, he’ll get more playing time than either Urias or Fermin, barring injury or being sent down to AAA in favor of the out-of-options Fermin (which is who Fermin would keep down rather than Weatherholt).
Urias was signed solely to be a veteran bench piece. He’s a utility player but not a super-utility player.
Wetherholt will not make the team and sit on the bench on opening day I promise you that.
Urias is a starter, especially on a bad team. Fermin isnt even a big leaguer for sure and Saggese might not be either. Urias is a better player than the other 2. Urias will get more playing time than Saggese. If Saggese proves himself deserving of more we could trade Urias at the deadline but Saggese hasn’t earned it.
Urias is going to start. Wait and see. He’s going to play regularly.
I’d be shocked if Urias gets 200 PAs this year barring injuries. He isn’t a starter. He’s a 32 year old back up infielder with a great glove.
STL has plenty to be excited about. We’re finally moving in the right direction for a change with some great young players. There are good ball players on this roster. I’m not saying they’re going to make the playoffs but they’re not as bad as folks make them out to be. Rotation injuries will be the death of this team. I’m fine with the lineup.
The rotation will be the death of this team even with no injuries. They’ve got a #2 starter (May), a #4 starter (McGreevy), a #5 starter (Liberatore), a lower end wild card (Pallante), a career reliever attempting to convert to starting (Leahy), and a bunch of AAAA or AAA options after that.
Meanwhile, only half of the bullpen is decent or better, and they might still trade Romero…
True on the rotation. Pallante went from looking like an ace in second half of 24 to dog$hit last year. I think the bullpen will be alright though. Wish they would keep Leahy there.
Maybe we’ll see Tink this year if he doesn’t get hurt.
Pallante won’t be in the rotation.
Starting 5 will be:
1) Libertore
2) May
3) McGreevy
4) Leahy
5) Fitts
I think Urias will be at 3rd, Saggese will be IF/OF utility, and Gorman at dh . Don’t know what they will do with Fermin. This, of course, on opening day.
Bigger question for me is their pitching. Lot of question marks there.
(Did not mention- Wetherholt starts at 2nd)
Herrera is the primary DH when he’s not catching.
I think only 1 of Fermin or Wetherholt will make the team. As for Herrera thats a huge question mark. I think they will carry 3 catchers.
Stacked field in the NL for Rookie of the Year:
1. Nolan McClean (SP-NYM)
2. Bubba Chandler (SP-PIT)
3. Bryce Eldridge (1B-SF)
4. JJ Wetherholt (2B-STL)
5. Sal Stewart (1B-CIN)
6. Andrew Painter (SP-PHI)
7. Moises Ballesteros (DH-CHC)
8. Carson Benge (OF-NYM)
9. Justin Crawford (OF-PHI)
10. Jhostnyxon Garcia (OF-PIT)
Wetherholt is at the top of the list.
Vegas has it:
Konner Griffin +280
JJ Wetherholt +450
Nolan McClean +500
Sal Stewart +1100
Moises Ballesteros +1300
Bubba Chandler +1400
Justin Crawford +1600
Bryce Eldridge +1800
Logan Henderson +2000
Owen Cassie +2000
Carson Benge +2200
Rhett Lowder +2500
Jonah Tong +3000
Andrew Painter +3000
Quinn Matthew +3500
Joe Mack +3500
Jhostnyxon Garcia +4000
Charlie Condon +4500
Robby Snelling +4500
Thomas White +5000
Aidan Miller +5000
I dont think Griffin is going to break camp but if he does, Id rank him second behind McClean. Id bet on McClean and I like the long odds on Chandler and Eldridge.
I like the long odds on Caissie too. Playing time is there and he hits bombs.
I like Charlie Condon, off to a fast start this spring. Ryan Waldschmidt also 40 to 1.
McClean
Waldschmidt
Condon
is my bet after digging in some more.
Condon will probably spend half the year or more in AAA. Zero AAA at bats and the Rockies are awful. I doubt they’ll risk losing a year of control for a guy who hasn’t played AAA baseball.
@Baltimore_44 Id say Weatherholt hits the roster in May, logs some starts at 2B in AAA to begin the season and takes over the starting job in St. Louis. He can still log 400+ ABs and make a run at RoY.
His odds to win shouldn’t be so high. Id argue neither should Griffin’s. Pirates like Nick Gonzalez quite a bit and between Yorke and Triolo, they should have the depth to keep Griffin in MiLB until May.
McClean should be the hands down favorite and at 5-1, Id say its a good bet.
There is an outside shot that Condon and Waldschmidt have starting jobs in May too. Troy Johnston and TJ Rumfield likely will get a look in Colorado but there isnt much blocking Condon other than his lack of seasoning. Waldschmidt is behind Gurriel, Thomas and Carroll in ARI, it isnt all that much to break through either but the D’Backs are also in a rebuild. It would make sense that both are held back until after the all star break, keeping their rookie status intact for ’27.
If either Waldschmidt or Condon do get the call in April/May, I like them both as much as Wetherholt and Griffin and as such would take those odds but I wouldnt make the bet until they have been in the lineup for a week or two. The 40-1 odds will be long gone if they do get a spring call up but both will still be good bets at 25 to 1.
I like Eldridge too, I think he can win it, I have him third in my rankings.
With McClean at 5-1, you can make 4 selections and be well hedged. A good opportunity to hit a long shot.
I was skeptical about him making the opening day roster early in the offseason but now that the Cardinals have actually followed through with trading Arenado and Donovan it’s seeming a lot more likely. Biggest thing going for him though may actually be that the Cardinals still haven’t signed an outfielder and appear to be giving Saggese or Fermin a shot instead. That seemingly opens the door for Wetherholt to crack the roster. I could see a situation where Gorman and Urias platoon at 3B while Wetherholt and Saggese platoon at 2B. Saggese probably also shares time in LF with Church until Nootbaar returns.
But I remain a little skeptical. With the team not contending this season and Wetherholt not yet on the 40 man roster it’s not hard for me to see them starting him in AAA and giving extra at bats to Gorman early on in the hopes he might turn it around and become a trade piece. This also might ensure an extra year of team control for Wetherholt.
They wont platoon Wetherholt. The want to max his plate appearances
I think he will break camp with them but I could see them sending him down to gain that extra year of eligibility. May even be the smart thing to do. Not the popular one though .
I see jj breaking camp. Gorman will get first Crack at 3b. Saggese at 2b. Jj replaces who struggles worse.
There’s no way he’s making the opening day roster as a bench player.
He will most likely start off at Memphis and Saggese can play second. The Cardinals have never been fans of starting a players clock too early and I can’t see this changing especially if JJ’s struggles in spring training.
The Cardinals have literally been the opposite of that for 2 decades. They start player’s clocks when they think they’re ready. They’ve never played the years of control game. Hicks straight from A Ball. Walker, Gorman, etc.
I guess the Cards will charge major league ticket prices to watch a years-long rebuild? Attendance is going to crater, so why not slash seat prices to fill the place, at least on weekends? That would be smart marketing, imo.
Ticket prices have been cheap for YEARS. People just dont want to go to games anymore and like to make excuses. You could give tickets away and it still wouldn’t be full.
Agreed. Tickets are cheap compared to whay they were 10 to 15 years ago.
My prediction. Wetherholt starts in Memphis, learning 2nd. Ramon Urias starts opening day at 2nd base. Saggese is the starting left-fielder for injured Nootbaar. Fermin is bench utility.
Ultimately, it comes down to what Chaim Bloom and Oli Marmol wants.