JJ Wetherholt would have a clear path<\/a> to starting in St. Louis after the Donovan trade.<\/p>\nJJ Wetherholt looks like the next Cardinals All-Star infielder![\"St.](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/01kgwypm1d2bzhyh0myj.jpg\" "\\"St.")
<\/p>\n
Mar 5, 2025; West Palm Beach, Florida, USA; St. Louis Cardinals left feilder JJ Wetherholt (87) celebrates after scoring against the Houston Astros during the second inning at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches. Mandatory Credit: Rich Storry-Imagn Images | Rich Storry-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
“The Donovan trade cleared out a spot for MLB Pipeline No. 5 prospect JJ Wetherholt, but even if that had not happened, Wetherholt would likely still be starting on Opening Day,” Leitch wrote. “He\u2019s an electric talent who has done nothing but hit since the Cardinals drafted him seventh overall in 2024, and even though he has played shortstop in the Minors, third base and second base (his likely initial position in the Majors) should be no sweat for him.\n<\/p>\n
“Wetherholt is also a big personality that Cardinals fans will absolutely adore, something that should not be underappreciated: St. Louis’ franchise has always revolved around star centerpieces, and Wetherholt has the charisma and talent to be its next one. He\u2019ll have to have a truly ghastly Spring Training not to be in the lineup on Opening Day, and for many Opening Days to come.”<\/p>\n
Wetherholt is one of the best prospects in baseball right now. He likely should have been brought up to the big leagues near the end of last season, but it’s going to be practically impossible for the Cardinals to deny him a starting job this year.<\/p>\n
Wetherholt is expected to slot in as St. Louis’ every day second baseman with Donovan gone. While it’s going to be hard to fill the All-Star’s shoes, Wetherholt is the perfect candidate to do so, even if it takes him some time to get going. He has the potential to be a better bat than Donovan ever has been.<\/p>\n
More MLB: Cardinals-Red Sox Mock Trade: St. Louis Sends Star Pitcher to Boston<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The St. Louis Cardinals are heading toward a rebuild right now, which became as clear as ever when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2403],"tags":[5,160,4,673,67,4311,4310],"class_list":{"0":"post-560208","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-louis-cardinals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cardinals","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-st-louis","12":"tag-st-louis-cardinals","13":"tag-stlouis","14":"tag-stlouiscardinals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116031522886958123","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}