Alright, the Cardinals are back on top of the world following a road sweep of the Pirates and a game one win against the Dodgers on Friday. Today my main objective is to keep the good vibes rolling and focus on what has gone well across the organization so far in 2026! I will sprinkle in a few analytical points, but this is mostly just a fun list of the things going well thus far from top to bottom in the Cardinals organization. Let me know what I missed!
The Cardinals’ strong start has not been driven by one fluky breakout. Across the major league roster and multiple minor league levels, there are real signs of progress. Here are eight of the most encouraging developments so far.
8. Triple-A Power Bats
Jimmy Crooks, Blaze Jordan, Cesar Prieto, and Joshua Baez have all hit 6+ home runs and are running isolated slugging percentages of .247 or greater through Memphis’ first 30 games.
They all have warts as prospects, but I do not remember a time when the Cardinals had this much power percolating in the upper minors. The big birds have had a surprising amount of home run pop with the 7th most in baseball entering play on Friday, but after years of talking about needing to find power, there are finally options emerging at every turn.
7. Minor League Pitchers Missing Bats
While most of the focus on minor league development is on individual performance, I thought it would be interesting to see how the minor league pitching staffs are doing in the aggregate. With the renewed focus on missing bats over the last few years on the player acquisition side, are the results starting to flow through? The below table shows the aggregate strikeout rates for each of the Cardinals’ full season farm teams, year-over-year.
Sure enough, every level in the system has seen an increase in strikeout rate year over year. The 25.9% aggregate K rate ranks fifth in baseball, tied with Seattle. This ranking is up from 11th in 2025 and 18th in 2024.
It is interesting that this trend is most pronounced at the A and High-A levels, where a greater proportion of the players were acquired during the Bloom era.
6. Alec Burleson and Ivan Herrera Solidifying Status as Impact Bats
After excellent 2025 seasons, both Herrera and Burleson are essentially matching last year’s production, with 2026 wRC+ marks of 141 and 123, respectively. There is nothing fluky about either of their stat lines as both have xwOBAs in the top 30 in baseball. I am a big fan and believer of both players, but neither has a particularly long track record of major league success, so the good offensive starts have been encouraging. Despite bad luck on batted balls, Herrera is 10th in the majors in OBP thanks to a 17.5% walk rate and an MLB-leading total of HBPs. While some of the players further up the list have grabbed more headlines this year, Burly and Herrera have been a tough combo in the middle of the lineup.
5. Riley O’Brien Being Awesome
O’Brien emerging as a dominant closer was not completely out of nowhere, but certainly has been a welcome surprise. He ranks third in relief pitcher fWAR at .7. With a leaky bullpen and underwhelming pitching staff overall, O’Brien has been critical in helping the Cardinals in their early run at relevance. He ranks fourth among relief pitchers in ERA going back to the beginning of last season at 1.85. The advanced metrics are positive for O’Brien as well. His Stuff+ has ticked up from 106 to 110, but thanks to his improved command, his Pitching+ is up to an elite 115. The ZiPS projection system likes what it sees, as O’Brien has improved his pre-season projected FIP from 3.99 to 3.55.
O’Brien is slowly establishing himself as a part of the team’s future core, or as one of their most attractive trade assets.
4. Rainiel Rodriguez Doing His Thing
It has been a relatively quiet start for some of the Cardinals higher-upside hitting prospects. Ryan Mitchell is striking out like crazy in low-A and Daniel Ortiz was injured in his first Double-A game. The system’s offensive star, Rainiel Rodriguez, is living up to his impossibly high expectations as he is running a 141 wRC+ in High-A as a 19-year-old. Even after a rough week, he maintains a 17/19 BB/K ratio and an isolated slugging percentage of .208. As a point of reference, Jordan Walker ran a 124 wRC+ with a 27% strikeout rate in his age 19 season in High-A. Nothing is guaranteed, but Rodriguez remains on a beeline for top 10 prospect in baseball status, if he keeps up his current trajectory.
3. Tanner Franklin Emerges
Tanner Franklin has exploded onto the scene in Peoria. Through his first five starts with the High-A club, he is striking out 34.6% of the hitters he faces while walking only 7.7%. Coming into the year, the biggest questions for the converted reliever were whether he could maintain his stamina and control as he moved into the rotation. Despite being on a limited pitch count (seemingly around 60 or 70), he has completed four innings twice and walked 2 or fewer batters in every start. Baseball America has already referenced Franklin as a pitcher trending toward top 100 status.
2. JJ Wetherholt Power
In his first 30 games, Wetherholt has lived up to the lofty expectations he had coming into the year. His defense has been surprisingly good, but his power has unexpectedly stolen the show. Coming into the season, many people, myself included, would have been happy if Wetherholt could contribute a slightly above average offensive line based on his excellent plate discipline and hit tool. It seemed reasonable to expect the power to come more slowly as he adapted to MLB pitching. Wetherholt has not only popped 7 home runs, he has posted a new career high exit velocity (108.7 MPH) and improved his 90th percentile EV from 103.7 MPH in Triple-A to 103.9 MPH in the bigs. Wetherholt with power is ridiculously fun to watch and also has the ceiling of a bona fide superstar.
1. Air Jordan
No surprises here as Jordan Walker, even after a cold stretch, remains the story of the first month of the 2026 season. Walker has improved his Barrel % from the 66th to the 97th percentile year over year. His Launch Angle Sweet Spot has improved from the 5th percentile to the 84th percentile. Overall, he is getting the ball in the air 60.5% of the time after living in the low 50s his first three seasons. Walker has drastically improved his launch angles without sacrificing his otherworldly exit velocity metrics. He ranks fourth in baseball in average EV (95.5 MPH), third in EV90, and 8th in HardHit% (59.2%).
None of this guarantees anything over a full season, of course. But for an organization that has spent the last few years searching for impact talent, swing-and-miss arms, and a clearer path back to relevance, the first month of 2026 has offered plenty of reasons to buy in… Or at least to enjoy the ride for a while.
