JJ all the way.
When Chaim Bloom took over as Cardinals president of baseball operations last fall, there was much talk about “threading the needle.” The Cardinals would try to remain competitive while rebuilding their farm system by trading veterans, developing young players, and working toward something bigger. There was plenty of skepticism around baseball. The calendar just turned to May but the Cards are now 20-14 and looking like a team that will be in the playoff race.
The rookie: JJ Wetherholt grew up in Mars, Pennsylvania, about 25 miles from PNC Park. As a kid, he had a birthday party at the stadium. Last week at that same stadium he hit a go-ahead homer off Paul Skenes in front of his assembled friends and family. And he looked like he’s looked all spring: completely unbothered. Not a player finding his footing in the big leagues. A player who arrived and immediately looked like he'd been here.
The Baby Cards: Second-year shortstop Masyn Winn has talked about how much it matters that this core came up together. Same age, same timeline, the same sense of building toward something as a group. And it shows. 23-year-old Jordan Walker is contributing across the field and already has ten home runs. Second-year left fielder Nathan Church made a wall catch in Pittsburgh that punctuated a four-game sweep. The young Cardinals players are flying all over the field and playing the type of defense that changes games.
Enough bats: Bloom traded away big-name veterans Nolan Arenado, Willson Contreras, and Brendan Donovan, and the assumption was that these Cardinals would struggle to score runs until the new core developed. But right now they rank a respectable ninth in MLB in both runs scored and team OPS. It's not a lineup built around one or two anchors; Jordan Walker, Ivan Herrara, JJ Wetherholt, and Alec Burleson have all been contributing on different nights. That kind of offense is hard to scout and hard to shut down.
Needle pointing up: The NL Central had a perfect April with every team at .500 or better. St. Louis isn't just good in a vacuum; they're good in a division where good isn't sufficient. Three Central teams in the playoffs is now a real conversation, and we have the rest of the season to see if the Cardinals are this far ahead of schedule.
