The St. Louis Cardinals received what I thought to be surprising news when both Brendan Donovan and Alec Burleson were named Silver Slugger award finalists. They were not honored for just a single position, though, as they will compete along with Jake Cronenworth for the Utility award.
Donovan is more the mold of that utility player, having won the inaugural Gold Glove for those responsibilities as a rookie and has played every position besides catcher and center field. This past year, Donnie spent the vast majority of his time at second base, with only 42 appearances at positions other than the keystone. Burleson surprisingly saw a more equal spread among three spots, spending near-equal time at first, left, and right after being usurped as the DH by the injured Ivan Herrera and the occasional Willson Contreras maintenance day.
Of the three finalists, Burleson seems the most qualified to win the award but the winners will not be announced until November 2. This got me to thinking who on the 2026 Cardinals squad could be finalists for their position’s offensive award, a solid honor for those players that do not quite hit at the MVP level but tend to be the most well-rounded hitters. The two positions that I could see St. Louis being in contention for the awards next year at second base and catcher. Both of my predicted finalists, though, hardly played those positions in 2025.
My first is the aforementioned Ivan Herrera, who had the team’s most productive season in terms of WRC+ and OPS. Despite missing over 50 games due to injury, Herrera still finished second on the team with 19 homers while putting up above-average plate discipline metrics. After the team initially anticipated a playing time split behind the plate between Herrera and Pedro Pages, Herrera’s injuries and poor throwing abilities limited him to 18 games in the field, four in the outfield and 14 behind the late. The Cardinals have announced that the catcher from Panama is expected to be given another go at catcher next year after undergoing arm surgery and an offseason to recover his minor maladies.
While I always enjoy a catcher who can play the outfield (a la Eli Marrero), if Herrera can play passable backstop defense, he will provide more value to the team with his bat. The 25-year-old had 452 appearances so a search of NL catchers with at least that much playing time returned just five players. Of those five, Herrera had the highest batting average, highest WRC+ (despite Goodman smacking 31 homers and 64 extra-base hits), the fewest strikeouts, second-most walks, second-most homers, and fourth-most RBIs. His eight stolen bases would also tie for second.
This year’s finalists are Goodman, Will Smith, and William Contreras. Each player did something better than Herrera in 2025, but by full body of work, it would be tough to argue against Herrera’s case as favorite for the Silver Slugger if he caught enough games this year.
At second base, coaches and professionals around the league have chosen Nico Hoerner, Brice Turang, and favorite Ketel Marte as Silver Slugger finalists. Donovan played the most games for the Cardinals at the keystone in 2025, but his numbers fell short of that group besides leading all second baseman in doubles. Depending on what St. Louis does with their infield alignment this offseason, I would love to see JJ Wetherholt as my dark horse candidate to hit himself into the final three.
His comparison is much harder than Herrera’s, obviously, as Wetherholt spent last season playing against players in their low-20s as he made his way up to Triple-A. In 109 total games (496 plate appearance), the top prospect hit 17 homers, knocked 28 doubles, and stole 23 bases while hitting .306 for a 152 WRC+. To add onto that solid first full season of pro ball, Wetherholt struck out 73 times and drew 72 walks, putting up above-average rates in each category.
To compare to this year’s finalists, Wetherholt would be well in first place in batting average, walks, and OPS, second in doubles, third in homers, and fourth in runs. Even though he put up just under 500 plate appearances, his 109 games is by far the fewest played out of the 11 hitters with at least 450 appearances. Because of that, a healthy and playing consistently Wetherholt could surpass every hitter ahead of him in most every category except for maybe homers as Marte hit 28.
Of course, this means that Wetherholt would likely have to make the club out of Spring Training and be given everyday at-bats through good and bad times. The first domino to fall would have to be Nolan Arenado being traded. Then, the next decision could cement Wetherholt’s status on the 2026 team because the organization currently has Donovan, Nolan Gorman, Thomas Saggese, and Jose Fermin as second and third base options. For Wetherholt to receive consistent playing time, at least one of those four would also have to be playing elsewhere in 2026. If Wetherholt (or any other player) were to win the award at second base, they would become just the second Cardinal second baseman in history to win the award. The other? Matt Carpenter in 2013.
Cardinals-colored glasses, of course but these two have shown a skillset consistent with those Silver Slugger finalists. Anyone I missed? I left Burleson off the list because I don’t see him filling that “utility” type role again in 2026 and the DH finalists were Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Schwarber, and Christian Yelich. This is also why Herrera’s best shot is at catcher. Wetherholt spent time at second, short, and third this year but with Masyn Winn entrenched at short, he will have to settle in at his secondary positions.
Anyone I missed? Fun fact: The NL’s final pitcher Silver Slugger was Max Fried in 2021. The Cardinals have three pitchers all-time winning the award: Bob Forsch (twice), Jason Marquis, and Adam Wainwright.
