Cardinals’ JJ Wetherholt delivered Guardians a draft reminder with strong performance

Twenty-eight months ago, the Cleveland Guardians created an expansive big board once they found out they had the first pick in the 2024 MLB Draft. 

And while that preparation ended with them picking Travis Bazzana with the No. 1 pick in that draft, they did their homework on plenty of the top players available — one of whom was then-West Virginia infielder JJ Wetherholt, who ended up being taken by the Cardinals with the No. 7 pick. 

The Guardians are getting their first chance to see Wetherholt in person this week via their three-game series against the Cardinals.

And, after going 1-for-5 in the series opener on Monday, Wetherholt provided two signature moments on Tuesday with a multi-homer game in St. Louis’ come-from-behind win over the Guardians. 

Although there’s still plenty of time for Bazzana to join the Guardians and end up becoming the best player of his draft class, Wetherholt's strong game was just another reminder that there are plenty of players from his class already excelling in the bigs while Bazzana is still in Triple-A. 

JJ Wetherholt is another member of Travis Bazzana’s draft class who is playing well in MLB 

Wetherholt joined in on the homer party in the third inning with a majestic solo shot off Joey Cantillo that traveled 369 feet and left his bat at 106.4 miles per hour, marking the third-hardest hit ball he’s had this season. 

It was the perfect ‘get right’ game for the 23-year-old rookie, who had cooled off since his strong start and entered play on Tuesday hitting just .213 on the season. 

But it took just two swings for him to turn that around. 

The second swing came in the eighth inning when he just snuck a 369 foot home run over the wall in left field off reliever Erik Sabrowski.

While it didn’t give the Cardinals the lead (that would come next inning against Cade Smith), Wetherholt’s home run marked the first earned runs Sabrowski has given up this season in 10 games. 

Meanwhile, Bazzana went 1-for-4 in the Columbus Clippers’ 8-1 loss to the Iowa Cubs on Tuesday. 

Wetherholt entered the 2024 college season as a potential option for the No. 1 pick, but he ended up playing in just 36 games due to a variety of hamstring injuries.

Those injuries led to him falling a bit in the draft, where the Cardinals happily scooped him up with the No. 7 pick. 

Again, one season doesn’t define a career. It was true last year when Nick Kurtz (another 2024 draftee) won American League Rookie of the Year, and it’s still true now even after Wetherholt went supernova last night. 

That said, every Wetherholt home run from here on out will make it a bit tougher to keep that perspective.

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