Standing just 5-foot-9 with neither elite bat speed nor a particularly strong throwing arm, JJ Wetherholt does what he can to make up for a lack of high-end skills.
“I’ve always had to feel like I needed to be good in every area of the game,” Wetherholt said. “I’ve never had crazy tools, so I just wanted to make sure that all those tools are out to play, especially in the big leagues.”
Those tools certainly played in 2026, a standout rookie season for the Cardinals second baseman. Wetherholt officially finished third in National League Rookie of the Year Award voting, as announced Monday night on MLB Network. Reds infielder Sal Stewart won the award, while Mets outfielder Carson Benge was the runner-up.
Wetherholt earned 99 voting points, receiving three of 30 possible first-place votes as well as 12 second-place votes, six third-place votes, five fourth-place votes and two fifth-place votes. He was vying to become the seventh Rookie of the Year in franchise history and the first since Albert Pujols in 2001.
The 24-year-old was MLB Pipeline’s No. 5 overall prospect when he made the Cardinals’ 2026 Opening Day roster, earning an everyday job and running with it. He posted a .242/.339/.365 slash line, slugging 17 home runs and stealing 14 bases in 15 attempts. Wetherholt showed impressive plate discipline as a rookie, striking out just 16.8% of the time (in the 77th percentile of MLB hitters) and walking just 10.3% of the time. He was St. Louis’ regular leadoff man, batting first in all 135 of his starts.
Not only was Wetherholt a hair above average as a hitter (he had a 102 OPS+ as a rookie), but his glove was the best at his position and among the best anywhere in the Majors. Wetherholt recorded a +23 fielding run value and +25 outs above average, ranking second in each category behind Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (+26 in each).
Wetherholt made 131 appearances at second base and just 12 at shortstop, a marked change from 2025 in the Minor Leagues, when he played mostly short while seeing occasional time at both second and third base.
“It was a ton of fun this year just growing at second base, a position that I played for most of my life,” Wetherholt said.
Born in Baltimore, Wetherholt was raised in western Pennsylvania and attended Mars Area High School, the same school as current free-agent closer David Bednar. He committed to play at West Virginia and spent 2022-24 with the Mountaineers, batting an impressive .449 as a sophomore in ’23 and finishing his collegiate career with a .370 batting average and 29 home runs.
Selected seventh overall by the Cardinals in the 2024 Draft, Wetherholt appeared in 29 games for Single-A Palm Beach that year before splitting time between Double-A and Triple-A in 2025. In 138 career Minor League games, Wetherholt posted a .304/.418/.487 slash line.
That kind of offensive production coupled with a solid Spring Training was enough to earn Wetherholt an early ticket to the big leagues. Right wrist tendinitis cost him two weeks late in the season, and his production at the plate dipped in the second half (he had a .755 OPS before the All-Star break and a .608 mark after), but Wetherholt still racked up 4.6 fWAR, the most among the three NL Rookie of the Year finalists.
“Just was out there having fun, trying to be competitive out there, and I was able to put a good year together,” Wetherholt said.
Wetherholt’s strong rookie year cements him as cornerstone of a young Cardinals team with one of the best farm systems in the Majors. Left-handers Quinn Mathews and Cooper Hjerpe, outfielder Joshua Báez and catcher Leo Bernal all made their big league debuts in 2026, while St. Louis has more Top 100 prospects -- catcher/first baseman Rainiel Rodriguez (No. 10) and lefty Liam Doyle (No. 40) -- on the way.