Monday, October 20

ST. LOUIS – While the Cardinals were patient in promoting No. 1 prospect JJ Wetherholt from Double-A Springfield to Triple-A Memphis, and resisted the temptation of calling him up to the big leagues late in the 2025 season, new president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom made it clear that his MLB time could be coming this spring. 

Wetherholt (MLB’s No. 5 overall prospect, per MLB Pipeline) will hit Spring Training in February with a chance to play his way onto the Cardinals' Opening Day roster, Bloom insisted.

“He’s impressive and he’s got a chance to be really good,” Bloom said of Wetherholt, who split time at second, third and shortstop with Springfield and Memphis. “We’re looking forward to seeing what he does in [Spring Training] camp, because he’s in a position where he can come in and make a really strong impression and start his big league career sooner rather than later. We’ll see how that shakes out, but he’s a really impressive player and he’s a really impressive, poised player.”

Wetherholt, the No. 7 pick of the 2024 MLB Draft, has lived up to the potential the Cardinals thought he had as a complete hitter. After hitting .300 in 62 games with Springfield, he was even better in 47 games with Memphis. He led off six games with a homer and slashed .314/.416/.562 with 14 doubles, one triple, 10 homers, 25 RBIs and nine stolen bases. 

Three players who forced their way onto the radar in 2025

1. Rainiel Rodriguez (No. 3 prospect): The 18-year-old catching sensation, who was signed with a $300,000 signing bonus from the Dominican Republic, has already become the talk of the Cardinals organization with his advanced hitting abilities. None other than eight-time All-Star Nolan Arenado returned from a rehab assignment in September raving about Rodriguez’s ability to hit opposite-field homers with triple-digit exit velocities. That hype has allowed him to soar to No. 55 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects rankings.

While splitting 2025 between the Rookie-level Florida Complex League, Single-A Palm Beach and High-A Peoria, the 5-foot-10, 197-pound Rodriguez slashed .276/.399/.555 with 20 homers, 22 doubles and 63 RBIs in 84 games. He spent just four games at Peoria, but he still pounded out five hits, one double and four RBIs. Rodriguez, who turns 19 on Jan. 4, could start 2026 at Springfield.     

2. Joshua Baez (No. 11 prospect): A second-round pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, Baez struggled mightily at the lower levels of the Minors for four seasons before finally delivering an eye-popping breakout year in 2025. Finally, the 22-year-old Baez started to show the kind of production that was expected from his chiseled 6-foot-3, 220-pound physique when the Cards took him with the No. 54 overall pick in 2021.

At Springfield, Baez not only stole 34 bases, but he also slashed .271/.374/.509 with 16 homers and 55 RBIs in 79 games. Even more impressively, Baez went 5-for-8, with three homers and six RBIs in Springfield’s three-game series against San Antonio that won it the Texas League crown. That performance likely earned Baez an invitation to MLB Spring Training, where he could have a chance to make the Cardinals.    

3. Ixan Henderson (No. 15 prospect): The 23-year-old lefty, whose first name is pronounced as “E-Shawn,” was an eighth-round pick in 2024 out of Fresno State and he’s still only ranked as the No. 15 prospect in the Cards' system by MLB Pipeline, but all he’s done is shine in two pro seasons. Following a strong 2024 at Palm Beach and Peoria, Henderson went 9-7 with a 2.59 ERA in 25 starts with Springfield. He struck out 134 in 132 innings and allowed just five home runs and a .210 opponents' batting average.

With a 2.44 ERA and 244 strikeouts in 239 2/3 professional innings, Henderson could give the Cardinals the rotational depth they lacked in 2025.

Two possible breakout players to watch in 2026

1. Brycen Mautz (No. 21 prospect): The 6-foot-3 lefty endured plenty of struggles in his first two professional seasons – he went 4-9 with a 3.98 ERA at Palm Beach in 2023 and he went 3-13 with a 5.18 ERA at Peoria in 2024 – but in 2025 he showed the potential that made him a 2022 second-round pick out of the University of San Diego.

Mautz went 8-3 with a 2.98 ERA over 25 starts with Springfield. His control was stellar as he struck out 134 compared to just 33 walks over 114 2/3 innings.

2. Leonardo Bernal (No. 4 prospect): If the Cards deal from the catching depth within their organization and unload a backstop, the 21-year-old Bernal could be competing with fellow Panamanian countryman Iván Herrera and rookie Jimmy Crooks for a job. Bernal threw out a whopping 39.1 percent of basestealers in 2025 at Springfield, but he also had 13 passed balls and 10 errors.

Bernal (the No. 92 overall prospect) hit 13 homers and 19 doubles with 70 RBIs in 107 games. The 6-foot, 245-pounder also swiped 13 bases.  

One big question for 2026

Can left-hander Quinn Mathews – the Cardinals' No. 5 prospect, who fell out of MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects list in 2025 – regain his control and get back on a path to the big leagues?

Mathews, 25, was Minor League Baseball’s Pitcher of the Year in 2024 when he struck out 202 in 143 1/3 innings. However, he struggled badly with his control in 2025 – 74 walks in 99 innings – and saw his record dip to 4-7.

Just as Mathews seemed poised to end the season on a high note – he went 2-1 with a 2.27 ERA in August – he walked more hitters (13) than he struck out (12) and posted a 6.43 ERA over three September starts. Could prized lefty Liam Doyle (No. 2 prospect) – the No. 5 overall pick from the 2025 MLB Draft – pass Mathews as the club’s top pitching prospect?

“For where expectations were going into the year, it was obviously a bumpy year,” Bloom said. “But I don’t feel any differently about his upside than I did last year. I still think the future for Quinn is really bright.”

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