One of the delights in watching the Cardinals play baseball over the next two or three seasons is seeing how the next-generation Redbirds measure up against the young talent clusters throughout the NL Central division.
Using Baseball America as my reference source, here’s how many times each NL Central organization landed in the Top 10 of the annual farm-system rankings from 2022 through 2026:
Brewers, 3
Reds, 3
Cardinals, 2
Pirates, 2
Cubs, 1
In the 2026 system ratings by Baseball America, the top three teams overall were the Pirates (1), Cardinals (2) and Brewers (3).
Impressive, yes?
The Cubs (22) and Reds (19) were lower on the list for the start of 2026 – but not because they did a poor job. But both organizations have graduated some of their better prospects to the majors and are in the process of replenishing the supply.
The Redbirds are blooming since Chaim Bloom cleared out the farm-system mold, put new people in charge of player development, and did exceptional (and fast!) work of reviving the player-development operation.
After the 2025 All-Star break, FanGraphs slotted the STL farm system at No. 2 among the 30 teams. And Baseball America tagged the Cardinals with that No. 2 rating for 2026.
After losing their touch in player development – which caused a major downfall – the Cardinals have entered the prospect-race competition in the NL Central. And that first step was absolutely necessary.
There’s so much young talent in the division, NL Central teams have 22 players (combined) among the Top 100 prospects in the game going into 2026. In the ESPN accounting, the Cardinals lead the way with six prospects: infielder JJ Wetherholt, catcher Raniel Rodriguez, pitcher Liam Doyle, outfielder Joshua Baez, pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje and catcher Leonardo Bernal.
The Cardinals are trying to catch up with their rivals. An impressive amount of elite young talent has flowed into the NL Central over the past three or four seasons. Some are no longer “kids” per se, but they should be noted because they were part of an earlier wave of talent that raised the collective hitting and pitching performance inside the division.
In no particular order some of the names are Paul Skenes, Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang, Elly De La Cruz, Sal Stewart, Hunter Greene, Rhett Lowder, Chase Burns, Jacob Misiorowski, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Jared Jones, Bubba Chandler, Moises Ballesteros, Cade Horton, Matt Shaw, Jett Williams, Brandon Sproat, Masyn Winn, Ivan Herrera, Logan Henderson, Oneil Cruz, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott … and all the others that I failed to mention.
At the moment, in terms of excitement, the Pirates have the best in show. Shortstop Konnor Griffin, a lad of 19, is the consensus No. 1 prospect in the majors entering 2026. Wetherholt is a consensus top-five choice and is ranked as high as No. 3.
This sets up an intriguing matchup – if that’s the term – between Griffin and Wetherholt in the coming years. And it’s exciting to know that they’ll be going at it in the NL Central. The Pirates and Cardinals will square off in 13 games this season – but because of his teenage status and relative status, Griffin may open the year in the minors. That won’t be the case with Wetherholt. He’ll be a Cardinal at the start of the 162-game schedule.
If Griffin’s major-league entry comes later, he’ll still be with the Pirates soon enough. In 563 plate appearances spread across the Class A and Class AA levels in 2025, Griffin had 21 homers, batted .333, slugged .527 and pumped a .941 OPS.
And dig this: the 6-3, 225-pound native of Flowood, MS swiped 65 bases in his first minor-league season! This spring, Griffin has smashed three home runs in 14 at-bats for the Pirates.
Wetherholt has been doing his smooth, smart, slick thing: taking fantastic at-bats, showing outstanding plate discipline, drawing walks, hitting for power. Through his first seven exhibition games this spring, JJ has a .333 average, .579 on-base percentage, .583 slug and a 1.162 OPS.
The 2024 MLB Draft produced both hitters. Wetherholt was chosen 7th overall by the Cardinals, and the Pirates pulled in Griffin with the 9th selection.
This raises – yeah, already! – the predictable and inevitable question … will the Cardinals regret taking Wetherholt over Griffin? I don’t think it’s a fair question, but that doesn’t matter.
Because when both rookies get going in 2026, the comparisons won’t go away if one of the two starts putting up a decisively better season. But no one would be surprised to see Wetherholt and Griffin duke it out for the NL Rookie of the Year award.
The comparisons will come in fast and hot, and they’ll come in over and over again. Especially if Griffin goes into the full-giant mode, becoming an instant sensation with his massive, thunderous power.
(Just for reference here are the top three home-run totals by a rookie in MLB history: Pete Alonso 53 in 2019, Aaron Judge 52 in 2017, and Mark McGwire 49 in 1987.)
Here’s the thing: before the 2024 draft Wetherholt was rated above Griffin in all of the notable evaluations made by draft know-it-alls.
Wetherholt was considered the best pure hitter in the class and tabbed as a candidate for the No. 1 overall pick. But he was downgraded because of concerns over a recurring hamstring injury that limited him to 36 games in his final season at West Virginia.
Griffin impressed MLB scouts with his formidable air power. But he was raw, and there were some worries over his plate discipline and a potential whiffing problem.
MLB Pipeline listed Wetherholt as the No. 4 best player on the board. Griffin was identified as the top high school prospect in the draft, and both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America ranked him at No. 9 on the big board.
So why would anyone cheap-shot the Cardinals for taking the most highly regarded hitter in the draft? Unless someone out there was hollering for the Cardinals to pop Griffin with the 7th pick instead of Wetherholt at the time, then it’s probably a good idea to pipe down.
I went back to sample some evaluations on each hitter BEFORE the draft.
Keith Law (The Athletic) on JJ Wetherholt:
“He can really, really hit; it might be the best swing for contact in the class, and even when he was all but hitting on one leg (because of hamstring injury) he still got the bat to the ball consistently for line-drive contact. He’s very short and direct to the ball, and he doesn’t miss strikes — over the last two seasons, his whiff rate on pitches in the zone is around 6 percent, which looks like a typo. It’s just a simple, efficient swing, with one move back to load and then a rapid uncoiling at the ball that gets maximum impact from his upper and lower body. You’re buying the hit tool here … he has the upside of a 60 or better hit tool that makes him a very long time regular who makes All-Star teams.”
Baseball America on Wetherholt:
“He has a clean and fluid left-handed swing with a slight uphill bat path and plenty of hand speed through the zone. He’s able to manipulate his barrel to consistently get on plane with all pitch types and has the strength to homer to all fields with surprising pop for his size. In addition to his plus contact skills and above-average raw power, Wetherholt has a keen eye and rarely expands the zone, making him one of the most well-rounded hitters in the class.”
Keith Law on Konor Griffin:
“He’s a toolshed, with four 60 (grades) or better on the scouting report — it’s easy plus power, plus speed, a 70 arm, and plus defense in center, with the potential for plus defense at short, although that would require more work.
“The question is how much he can hit; he did clean up his swing from the summer of 2023 to this spring (2024) and looked good in the first half of the year, but as the season went on he reverted to some old habits and his contact quality dipped. He has quick hands but his swing naturally gets long from his deep hand load … He also hasn’t shown great command of the strike zone to date, and may need more time in the low minors to develop that aspect of his game, especially given where he’s from. The history of high school hitters signed out of Mississippi is very poor; Austin Riley is now the all-time WAR leader in that category at 19.0 WAR (as of mid-May), with a very high failure rate because the quality of competition in the state is so bad.”
After citing the concerns, Law did say that Griffin had 30-homer, 30-steal “superstar” potential. Not that Griffin is the classic boom-or-bust type, but there was some risk here.
Baseball America on Griffin:
“Griffin has a case as the toolsiest prospect in the 2024 class. Griffin has excelled as a hitter and pitcher with a tremendous package of athleticism, physical upside, tools and track record of performance. He’s a bouncy athlete with plus-plus speed, raw power that should become plus and plus arm strength …
“Griffin’s swing can get long at times, and he was just solid on the showcase circuit in 2023 before lighting up his Mississippi prep competition this spring to win High School Player of the Year.
“Where Griffin’s hit tool falls is the biggest question and will determine whether he becomes a superstar with consistent all-star upside or a player who struggles to actualize his enviable tools.”
A major-league scout, granted anonymity when I reached out to him, had this to say about Griffin’s potential flaws before the draft.
“The ‘hittability’ was the biggest red flag. The power is elite. The speed is elite. But there’s holes in his swing, so there’s skepticism about whether he’d make consistent contact to utilize those tools against professional pitching.”
The scout also went back into his 2024 notes to relay his assessment of Wetherholt: “Best pure hitter available, nearly perfect mechanically. Pitchers can tie him up with fastballs inside, but they better have a great fastball. The (hamstring injury) creates some anxiety here, because if it’s a continuing problem it could sap his speed and limit his aggressiveness as a runner who can steal a good number of bases. He isn’t the biggest guy, but don’t underestimate his power. It’s there. You couldn’t get a swing as beautiful as this even if you created it on AI.”
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015. Before that Bernie spent a year at the Dallas Morning News, covering the Dallas Cowboys during Tom Landry’s final season (1988) plus the sale of the team to Jerry Jones and the hiring of Jimmy Johnson as coach. Bernie has covered several Baseball Hall of Fame managers during his media career including Tony La Russa, Whitey Herzog, Earl Weaver, Joe Torre and (as an interim) Red Schoendienst. In his career as a beatwriter and columnist, Bernie covered Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches Joe Gibbs, Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson and Dick Vermeil on a daily basis.
Bernie has covered and written about many great St. Louis sports team athletes including Albert Pujols, Kurt Warner, Brett Hull, Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright, Jim Edmonds, Marshall Faulk, Scott Rolen, Mark McGwire, Orlando Pace, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Al MacInnis, Brian Sutter, Bernie Federko, Chris Pronger, Dan Dierdorf, Jackie Smith and Aeneas Williams. Bernie covered every baseball Cardinals’ postseason game from 1996 through 2014 and was there to chronicle teams that won four NL pennants and two World Series. He provided extensive coverage on the “Greatest Show” St. Louis Rams and has written extensively on the St. Louis Blues, Saint Louis U, and Mizzou football and basketball. Bernie was/is a longtime voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Heisman Trophy and the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STL Sports Central, catch him regularly on KMOX (AM or FM) as part of the Gashouse Gang, Sports Rush Hour, Sports Open Line or Sports On a Sunday Morning shows. And you can catch weekly “reunion” segments here at STL Sports Central featuring Bernie and his longtime friend Randy Karraker.