As most of you know, I was lucky enough to be invited to attend Winter Warmup as a reporter. Last year, I used that experience to write several season previews. Due to the late start of the top 20 prospect series (caused by waiting for Brendan Donovan to be traded), my Winter Warmup stories have been pushed to now instead of at the beginning of spring training. Thus technically, these could also be called season previews, but there\u2019s a good chance I write a couple of these after the season has already started. I\u2019ll try to pick stories that are not outdated for the ones during the season.<\/p>\n
There has been a lot of discussion over how good the Cardinals will be this upcoming season. On the side of \u2018better than you\u2019d think\u2019 the primary argument is that, despite trading three of the better players on the team, there is some reason to believe it won\u2019t be a huge drop-off. That argument works for two of the three players.<\/p>\n
In the case of Sonny Gray, it\u2019s mainly because the on-field results were not actually that good. He had a 4.28 ERA. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s an unreasonably high bar. For Brendan Donovan however, the reason is because there is a not all that unrealistic chance that his replacement is just as good on day one.<\/p>\n
Obviously, he won\u2019t replace the versatility of Donovan and Donovan\u2019s absence will be felt by whoever will take take the innings he would have surely played in LF. But as far as effect on winning games, duplicating Donovan\u2019s production is certainly on the table.<\/p>\n
Growing up, Wetherholt was around MLB players. Living where he lived, he would see players like Neil Walker and would grow up playing with Adam Laroche\u2019s son and Jack Wilson\u2019s son, otherwise known as Jacob Wilson of the Athletics. Because of this, the MLB dream seemed a little more real to him than to most people.<\/p>\n
He looked up to players like Dustin Pedroia and Jose Altuve, being a bit undersized himself. Probably also a bit of their hustling and grind it out nature. He admired Robinson Cano\u2019s swing. He attended West Virginia, where he pretty much immediately displayed his hitting prowess.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has that tool that\u2019s not necessarily hard to come by, but it\u2019s a very, very, very good tool,\u201d said Victor Scott, who played with him at West Virginia for one year, when Scott was a junior and Wetherholt a freshman. \u201cHe has that hit tool. And he even had that as a kid in West Virginia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luckily, he had a hamstring issue that caused him to fall in the MLB draft, or the Cardinals probably never get him. And almost two years later, he\u2019s already set to make his MLB debut later today. Coming to spring training less than a year after getting drafted, manager Oliver Marmol was already impressed by him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way he carried himself in that spring, your first year to be around big league guys and big league staff showed a lot about what he\u2019s all about and I\u2019m looking forward to that,\u201d Marmol said.<\/p>\n
Marmol calls what Wetherholt has \u201ca quiet confidence\u201d that is rare in young players. Jordan Walker was asked if he would give any advice, being himself once a highly touted player with high expectations on Opening Day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think he needs advice from me,\u201d Walker said. \u201cHe\u2019s just so about what he does. He looks like someone who\u2019s not really fazed by anything. He\u2019s just about his work and he gets to work. Anything else, he\u2019s like \u2018it\u2019s going to come\u2019. I think he\u2019s one of the most level-headed people I\u2019ve ever met, so I don\u2019t think anything will faze him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wetherholt seems to have that necessary single-mindedness to succeed where he knows what he has to do and knows he can do it. He won\u2019t let distractions get in the way. He won\u2019t be flashy. When opposing fans sometimes stereotype Cardinals fan for only wanting the maybe boring, hard-working guy, they are probably thinking we will only like players if they\u2019re like JJ Wetherholt. He\u2019s that kind of guy. He will not do us any favors in arguing against that when he inevitably becomes a fan favorite. Because Cardinals do like that guy. They don\u2019t only like that kind of player, but they in fact like type of player.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things I guess people maybe don\u2019t know about him is how humble he is,\u201d Scott said. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t like to boast about himself, he\u2019s very down to earth. That kid is definitely screwed on straight.\u201d<\/p>\n
See? It sounds like Scott was asked something they don\u2019t know about Wetherholt with the way that was phrased, but he wasn\u2019t led to that response. He was asked a more general question about being teammates with Wetherholt, and it followed the praise of his hit tool in answering the question.<\/p>\n
Wetherholt himself has been praised for his nearly impeccable ability to swing at good pitches to hit and to not swing at bad pitches to hit. He is well aware of what type of hitter he is.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a swing decision guy,\u201d Wetherholt said. \u201cI make good swing decisions, control the zone, drive the ball to all fields and that\u2019s always gonna be my game.\u201d<\/p>\n
One would think one wouldn\u2019t be disappointed if someone had a season like Wetherholt had last year. But for at least one part of his game, he was kind of disappointed he strayed from being an all-fields hitter.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I get an outside fastball, I cannot miss that pitch,\u201d Wetherholt said. \u201cI need to hit that as double in the left center gap, that\u2019s something I didn\u2019t do as well as I would like to last year, so that\u2019s something I would like to get back to.\u201d<\/p>\n
And when asked about his surge in power, he doesn\u2019t think he was doing anything differently. It thinks it was because the AAA ball was different and flew more. The AAA is in theory the MLB ball, but also he thinks the MLB ball might even be different a little. Either way, he\u2019s not really worried about power.<\/p>\n
\u201cPower\u2019s usually the tool that comes later,\u201d Wetherholt. \u201cI\u2019m comfortable with the power that I have but of course you\u2019re always trying to add that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Try to become more of a power hitter, he\u2019d likely stray from what he considers his game. If power happens because of his game, great, but don\u2019t try to be that guy. At least maybe I\u2019m thinking that way because it reminds me of when Albert Pujols used to say he was a line drive hitter who happened to hit homers. It\u2019s a similar philosophy. Try to hit line drives and sometimes those become homers. Probably to a significantly lesser extent than Pujols of course.<\/p>\n
There may be a temptation to hold back on believing in Wetherholt because of past experiences. But oddly, Jordan Walker seemed to perfectly describe the essential difference between himself and Wetherholt when he was asked what he can learn from Wetherholt.<\/p>\n
\u201cRelax a little bit,\u201d Walker said. \u201cWhen we\u2019re hitting in the cage, he\u2019s one of the most relaxed hitters I\u2019ve ever seen. His mechanics are just so clean, relaxed, fluid. It looks so easy when he does it. When I go in the cage and I try to be relaxed, I have some of my best rounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
You\u2019re never going to believe this, but somehow there is also a JJ Wetherholt quote that literally makes me think of Jordan Walker related to this same concept. He was not talking about Walker to be very clear. But he very well could have been.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re twitchy or you\u2019re tense, you start to chase or you get frozen on fastballs down the middle,\u201d Wetherholt said. \u201cI\u2019m definitely trying to be relaxed and I\u2019m just trying to get to use my barrel.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was listening to the interview before writing this and I felt my body jump a little. I sympathize with Walker though. I know who I am. I would be twitchy and tense for sure. I didn\u2019t play baseball very far in life and it was unfortunately for talent-related reasons, but I don\u2019t think I could advance because of the mental aspect of the game even if I was talented. I totally get in my own head about significantly less stressful things. But I do think that\u2019s the number one issue with Walker, he\u2019s not relaxed in the batter\u2019s box.<\/p>\n
Masyn Winn, who noted that he at least got a month in 2023 to prepare for a full season at the big leagues unlike JJ, is just hoping to make the transition as easy possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really looking forward to playing with JJ,\u201d Winn said. \u201cI want him to come in comfortable and be himself. I don\u2019t want him to be walking on eggshells. I want him to go out there and have a lot of fun. I want to be there for JJ and let him be great.\u201d<\/p>\n
I think we\u2019re good guys. I don\u2019t think JJ Wetherholt will be a repeat of past experiences. He has the kind of hit tool and approach that typically translates, and it seems like nothing will faze him. I don\u2019t know if he will bat leadoff later today, but I think he can handle it. One thing is for sure: JJ Wetherholt is ready for the big leagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always a good sight to see (Busch Stadium),\u201d Wetherholt said. \u201cThis place is beautiful. It definitely gives you that feeling of \u2018I don\u2019t want to play in these minor league stadiums anymore, I want the real deal.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As most of you know, I was lucky enough to be invited to attend Winter Warmup as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2403],"tags":[5,160,4,6213,673,67,4311,4310,38503],"class_list":["post-644550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-louis-cardinals","tag-baseball","tag-cardinals","tag-mlb","tag-st-louis-cardinals-news","tag-st-louis","tag-st-louis-cardinals","tag-stlouis","tag-stlouiscardinals","tag-veb-daily"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116295689213341743","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644550","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=644550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}