ST. LOUIS -- What makes the torrid start to Cardinals rookie JJ Wetherholt's big league career all the more impressive is the way that he called his shot on it.
No, he didn't point out toward Freese's Lawn before depositing a baseball onto the Busch Stadium berm in his second career at-bat during Thursday’s season opener. Nor did he gesture to the hole between first and second before guiding a walk-off hit through it in the 10th inning on Saturday.
But generally speaking, Wetherholt called his shot on all of this -- he knew long ago that this is right where he would be.
Amid his anticipated Major League debut on Thursday, a throwback photo began circulating on social media of a grinning Wetherholt from fifth grade -- bespectacled with his light brown bangs covering his forehead -- holding up a miniature chalkboard that declared what he believed, at the time, his future would bring.
The popular post, which was shared by a social media account for Mars Area School District (Mars, Pa.), outlined that Wetherholt’s fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Ingoldsby, had prompted the class to write down what they wanted to be when they grew up.
A young Wetherholt knocked the prompt out of the park.
His sign read: MLB player.
“I knew about the picture for a while -- my mom always kept that,” Wetherholt said.
Wetherholt also mentioned that Mrs. Ingoldsby might have beaten him to the draw when it came to publicly unearthing the photo.
“I was going to use it in my post, but I just saw my teacher posted it,” Wetherholt said with a smile. “Really, really cool. Just a special picture.”
For her part, Katelyn Ingoldsby told MLB.com she remembers Wetherholt as “always well-spoken, polite and respectful,” speaking to his strong work ethic and motivation -- certainly a glowing report card for the new Cardinals second baseman.
“It has been incredibly rewarding to watch a former student’s dedication develop into this level of success,” Ingoldsby said via email this week. “My family and I have loved seeing his debut this weekend and the start of what promises to be an exciting career ahead.”
After joking that he had a similar photo op back in his youth -- without it working out quite the same -- Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol shared his enthusiasm for Wetherholt's confidence at that age to know what he wanted, and then doing what it took to live it out.
"It speaks to the people around him, helping to make it happen as much as him willing it to happen,” Marmol said.
When asked about the trip down memory lane Monday, Wetherholt called it a “full-circle moment” to see that younger version of himself being shared online to commemorate his MLB debut. A version of himself that, even then, had the vision to believe said debut would some day take place.
“Just looking back at all that,” Wetherholt said, “I can always tell people that I wanted to do what I’m fortunate enough to be able to do now.”