JJ Wetherholt wasn’t a sure thing to make the St. Louis Cardinals‘ Opening Day roster, but in the end, the Cards decided to give the phenom a chance.

They didn’t hold back, either, batting him leadoff right away and giving Wetherholt the opportunity to chase history this franchise hasn’t had since Albert Pujols in 2001.

Pujols that year was the most recent Cardinals player to win NL Rookie of the Year.

If Wetherholt keeps up his fast start, he’ll be in the running.

“Yes, it’s early, but the way Wetherholt is playing, he could become the first member of the Cardinals to win the NL Rookie of the Year Award since Albert Pujols did so in 2001,” MLB.com’s Bill Ladson writes in a new article. “In Wetherholt, it looks like St. Louis has a leadoff hitter for years to come. Through the first six games of the season, Wetherholt has a slash line of .280/.321/.400. His impact has been felt since Day 1 of the regular season. Two days after hitting his first Major League homer, Wetherholt drove in the game-winning run with a single in the bottom of the ninth inning off Rays right-hander Griffin Jax. Wetherholt became the first Cardinals rookie to accomplish that feat since Lars Nootbaar on Aug. 25, 2021 against the Tigers.”

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Wetherholt wasn’t a surprise by any means. He ranked as a top-10 prospect in the sport this offseason no matter whose list you looked at.

But with the Cardinals at least on paper looking more like a rebuilding team than a contending one, there was plenty of assumption that Wetherholt would remain in Triple-A a bit to delay his service time clock and allow him just a bit more development time.

The Cardinals ended up finding enough incentive to keep Wetherholt in the majors, and he is certainly already showing that he belongs.

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