There’s a sense that the St. Louis Cardinals have a special player in JJ Wetherholt. There’s no debating his talent, but can anyone possibly live up to the hype that is building around him? I found an all-star comp that provides an encouraging look at what the Cardinals can expect.
When the St. Louis Cardinals named JJ their minor league player of the year this week, words were thrown around like “cornerstone”, “rookie of the year”, “phenom” and I could go on and on. We’ve learned the hard way with recent so-called phenoms that expectations can be dangerous. Dylan Carlson, Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker are three players that had big hype before they became part of the big league squad and none has lived up to it as of today.
As I said when I introduced myself to this community, I’m not a numbers specialist like many of our team here. But, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that JJ Wetherholt has a sky-high ceiling as he’s on the cusp of his big league career. I really wanted to find a comparable talent that is now established as a solid Major League Baseball all-star to see what realistic expectations can be for who JJ Wetherholt can become for the Cardinals not based on emotions. I found one that is compelling. His name is Bobby Witt Jr.
I thought a fair comparison would be looking at Bobby Witt Jr’s last full minor league season which was 2021 and putting that up against what JJ accomplished last year. Both players split time between Double A and Triple A during the comparative years. Here’s the breakdown:
Games played – Bobby Witt Jr. – 123 – JJ Wetherholt – 109
Batting average – Bobby Witt Jr. – .290 – JJ Wetherholt – .306
On-Base Percentage – Bobby Witt Jr. – .361 – JJ Wetherholt – .421
Slugging Percentage – Bobby Witt Jr. – .575 – JJ Wetherholt – .510
Home Runs – Bobby Witt Jr. – 33 – JJ Wetherholt – 17
Runs Batted In – Bobby Witt Jr. – 97 – JJ Wetherholt – 59
Stolen Bases – Bobby Witt Jr. – 29 – JJ Wetherholt – 23
Walks – Bobby Witt Jr. – 47 – JJ Wetherholt – 72
Strikeouts – Bobby Witt Jr. – 123 – JJ Wetherholt – 73
This is an interesting comparison to me as it shows that while Bobby Witt Jr. displayed more power with superior home run and RBI numbers, JJ Wetherholt is showing a better command of the strike zone. When you factor in that Bobby Witt Jr. played in 14 more games than JJ did last season, you can see that there is a very good reason why everyone is excited about what kind of player he can be.
This does not mean that JJ Wetherholt will be the next Bobby Witt Jr., but what it reveals to me is that the hype behind his rise is real. If he can even come close to being the player that Bobby Witt Jr. is now, you can go ahead and toss more coal into the fire of the JJ Wetherholt hype train. It’s arrival in St. Louis should be very soon.
