JJ Wetherholt: Cardinals' New Leadoff Star

0:00On April 19th, the St. Louis Cardinals have a new spark at the top of their lineup with top prospect, JJ Weatherhold. This 23-year-old made the Major League roster right out of spring training and has locked down the lead-off spot in 19 of his first. 20 games. He's slashing 0.236 over 0.3A0 over 0.375 with three homers, nine RBI's, 14 walks and four. Stills, earlier this week, he pinch hit on April 3rd, but has otherwise been the everyday table-setter. That elite-play discipline shines through, especially in those lead-off at bats where his on-base percentage hits 0.389. Fans and stats folks are buzzing because Weatherhold ranked second in baseball for lead-off on-base percentage, trailing only Shohei Otoni's 0.3. Nine-six among players with at least 70 played appearances. Sitting in that conversation with Otoni, that star-level stuff right away. Dig deeper, and he's crushing it defensively too, sitting in the 97 percentile for

1:02outs above average. For a rookie this young, it's clear the cardinal struck gold with a player who's already impacting games on both sides of the ball. Once his batting average climbs from that 0.236, which it will as hits start falling, the sky's the limit for this budding cornerstone. The card's future looks bright with Weatherhold leading off. I'm Corey with the story. That's your MLB News Today update, AI powered and always on.