photo: Rainiel Rodriguez and Leonardo Bernal (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
Recognizing players with perhaps the brightest futures in the St. Louis Cardinals system, The Cardinal Nation is announcing our annual Cardinals Top 50 Prospect List for 2025. Our 20th annual rankings are rolling out with daily articles into the New Year.
A proven process, but always improving
Kyle Reis
As we unveil our 2026 Cardinals Top 50 Prospect List, Kyle Reis is providing all new, in-depth player evaluations.
Kyle is well known from social media, Birds on the Black, Prospects After Dark and most recently, co-host of our Wednesday With Walton and Reis podcast here at The Cardinal Nation. Kyle is also sharing his scouting reports on the best prospects across the Cardinals system.
Kyle’s expertise in scouting prospects is important in providing the depth of projections our readers expect. His tools-driven evaluations join Brian Walton’s assessments.
The rankings
The process to set TCN’s new Top 50 for 2026 is an extension of our members-only in-season monthly Cardinals prospect rankings, with adjustments based on fall and winter ball play as well as input from scouts and player development professionals.
Separately developed, Kyle’s list of his best 65 prospects was averaged with Walton’s working top 65 to develop the site’s new Top 50. Their individual scores will be shared, as well.
Players are eligible until they surpass the MLB rookie levels of 130 at-bats, 50 innings pitched or 45 days of service time.
In our daily countdown of the Top 50, starting on Monday, November 17, Kyle provides a scouting report on each prospect, highlighting major tools for position players and the various offerings from pitchers.
Brian will provide background on each prospect, his progress in the organization, where he fits against others and his outlook for the coming season and beyond.
Following the countdown will be our annual series of “best-of”, “just-missed” and in-depth analysis articles of the Top 50 collectively. New articles will continue well into the New Year.
As always, selected prospect reports will be made available to everyone, but for full access to all 50 write-ups and the following articles, one must be a member of The Cardinal Nation. Join today!
To follow the countdown, you can either read each new story when posted on our home page every morning or click on the individual players’ names, which will be listed below as they are unveiled. You can also return to this page daily to check the progress in our Top 50 countdown.
Readers can join in the dialogue at The Cardinal Nation’s free message board, where there will be discussion surrounding that day’s entry onto the top prospect list.
To check out the corresponding rankings from each of the past 20 winters, click here, or you can always access them via the permanent link in the left column located underneath the site logo called “PROSPECT RANKINGS”.
At the conclusion of the countdown, a 10-part series follows, as we drill down into the details behind the Top 50. Most of these articles will be exclusively for TCN members.
We will analyze year-to-year changes and the top additions, highlight players who did not make the combined Top 50 and unveil our All-Prospect Team – the highest-ranked players at each position.
Next will be a view behind the numbers, a look back at our best and worst picks from the previous year, the top prospect list cut by level of play and those on the 2025 list who dropped off for 2026.
The following table aligns the level of each scouting grade for hitters and pitchers to their comparable future MLB role.
Grade
Hitter role
Pitcher role
80
Top 5 hitter
1-3 arm. Ace if multiple years
70
Top 10 hitter
2 starter FIP sub 3.00
60
All-Star
3 starter 3.30 FIP (200 IP)/High closer
55
Above average regular/occasional All-Star
3/4 starter 3.70 FIP (160 IP)/Mid closer
50
Average everyday player
4 starter 4.00 FIP (or 190+ IP)/Low closer/high set up
45
Platoon player
4/5 starter 4.20 FIP/Low set up
40
Reserve
Backend starter 5.00 FIP/Middle relief
30
AAAA player
AAAA player
20
Organizational player
Organizational player
Behind these basic grades are more detailed scales which help translate player measurements by position types into grades. Examples include average and home run levels and home to first base times for hitters, pop rates for catchers and velocities, strikeout and walk rates for pitchers.
Risk is another measure included. It indicates the chances a player hits the Future Value scouting grade given.
Low
Moderate
High
Extreme
Now 20% off – 2025 Cardinals Prospect Guide
The Cardinal Nation Prospect Guide is back for its eighth year. It includes 256 pages of in-depth commentary about the very best St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers, including dozens of all-new player scouting reports. Order your PDF or spiral-bound printed book copy today, with the latter on closeout for 20% off!
All paid members can purchase our Prospect Guide PDF at 50% off. Thank you for your support of The Cardinal Nation!
There is plenty more of this kind of in-depth writing available here at The Cardinal Nation 365 days a year.
Subscribe to The Cardinal Nation for the most comprehensive coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals from the majors through the entire minor league system.
Check out Kyle’s work at Birds on the Black and his very popular Prospects After Dark interactive podcasts. He is also one of the most informative and entertaining Cardinals related social media follows at @kyler416.
Inserted at no. 19a on The Cardinal Nation’s 2026 Top 50 Prospect List is a multi-tooled center fielder who has been consistently young for his leagues. Former Mariner Tai Peete has a high ceiling but also challenges with plate discipline and swing and miss.
This content is for paid members only. Join The Cardinal Nation today! Register
The St. Louis Cardinals avoided this dark moment for as long as they could.
Before and since their last good season in 2022, the team signed players who they would eventually have to pay other teams to take off their roster, while also costing them draft picks and international money. They leaned into nostalgia, pumping up the fanbase over aging stars reaching career milestones while underfunded and understaffed player development stagnated and prospects underperformed.
One could argue that the organization’s descent began long before the 71-91 debacle of 2023, and the two mediocre, non-playoff seasons that followed. Since the 2019 NLDS, the last time the Cards won a playoff series, they are 1-9 in postseason games.
Now, the Cardinals are fully committed to a rebuild, which is both exciting and scary.
An optimist can look at rebuilding as a bridge to the next era of consistently competitive teams. And that’s where I am more often than not.
But the realist understands there’s no guarantee that a competitive window will actually open, or that the rebuilding process will ever end.
My goal here isn’t to feed either beast, but rather to present a case study of one of the most successful rebuilds in modern baseball history, one that produced three World Series titles for the San Francisco Giants and a lifetime of memories for their fans.
It’s a model the Cardinals may already be following.
Part 1: The Nosedive
Let’s start by looking at the Giants’ competitive trajectory in the late 20th and early 21st centuries:
Era
Average # of wins per season
Playoff appearances
World Series titles
1997-2004
92
4
0
2005-2008
73.5
0
0
2009-2016
87
4
3
The first block, as you probably recall, was the peak of the steroid era, with Barry Bonds averaging 10.85 WAR per season from 2001-2004. (All stats are from Baseball Reference, unless specified otherwise.)
They won a pennant in 2002 before losing to the David Eckstein-powered Angels in the World Series.
That run was followed by four consecutive losing seasons. I’m sure that was rough for Giants fans, though if you could work up any sympathy for them, you’re a better person than me.
What matters is this: In baseball, there’s a reward for being bad, and the Giants took full advantage of their premium draft picks to build the championship teams that followed.
Part 2: The Draft Picks
Here’s what the Giants did in the next four drafts:
Draft year
First-round pick (# overall)
Career WAR
Awards
2006
RHP Tim Lincecum (10)
19.5
2x CYA
4x All-Star
2007
LHP Madison Bumgarner (10)
37.2
NLCS and WS MVP
4x All-Star
2x Silver Slugger
2008
C Buster Posey (5)
45
ROY
MVP
7x All-Star
5x Silver Slugger
Gold Glove
2009
RHP Zack Wheeler (6)
40.2*
3x All-Star
Gold Glove
* With the Mets and Phillies. The Giants traded Wheeler to the Mets for Carlos Beltran at the deadline in 2011. It was one of their few missteps during their championship era. Even though Beltran had a 159 OPS+ in his two months with the Giants, the team went from four games up at the time of the trade to eight games behind at the end. Beltran subsequently signed with the Cardinals in the offseason.
Those four weren’t the only studs the Giants drafted in their dark years. They also added shortstop Brandon Crawford (29.4 WAR) in the fourth round in 2008, and first baseman Brandon Belt (29.9 WAR) in the fifth round in 2009.
Crawford, a three-time all-star, won four Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger for the Giants. Belt made one All-Star Team. Both were key players on San Francisco’s championship teams in 2012 and 2014.
Part 3: The Championships
In summary, the Giants capitalized on four bad seasons with four great drafts.
They then capitalized on those drafts with World Series titles in 2010, 2012, and 2014.
Of course there were other contributors to their success, starting with Hall of Fame manager Bruce Bochy.
Right-hander Matt Cain, the Giants’ first-round pick in 2002 (25th overall), was a three-time All-Star. In the 2010 and 2012 postseasons, Cain went 6-0 with a 2.10 ERA. (In 2010, he didn’t give up a single earned run in his three starts.)
And then there was third baseman Pablo Sandoval, a two-time All-Star who the Giants signed as an international free agent. He memorably terrorized the Cardinals in the 2012 NLCS before being named World Series MVP.
It’s also worth noting that the Giants of that era were hardly juggernauts. They only won two division titles in those eight years and blew some sizable leads.
The most notable was in 2014, when they led the NL West by as many as 10 games but entered the playoffs as an 88-win Wild Card team.
That, you may recall, was the year Bumgarner turned in one of the greatest postseason performances in history, and almost single-handedly gave the Giants their third World Series title in five years.
So, what does this have to do with the Cardinals in 2026 and beyond?
Part 4: How the Cardinals Can Return to the Top
We’ll start with the obvious parallels:
The Cardinals, like the Giants, have suffered through three disappointing seasons, and are probably looking at a fourth in 2026.
The Cards, like the Giants, had consecutive top 10 draft picks in 2024 and 2025, and would have a third in 2026 if not for bad lottery juju. Returning to the top 10 for the 2027 draft is not far-fetched.
The Cards, like the Giants, selected an up-the-middle position player and an intimidating lefty starter with two of those picks.
I’m not suggesting JJ Wetherholt will reach the same level as Posey, a likely first-ballot Hall of Famer. No 23-year-old should start his MLB career with such unrealistically high expectations.
That goes double for Liam Doyle. Comparing a young man with 3 2/3 professional innings to one of the greatest postseason performers in history is beyond absurd.
In fact, I have no idea when the Cards will again be competitive, or who the key contributors will be when they do.
But neither did the Giants when they suffered through those four dark seasons from 2005 to 2008.
And neither did the Royals, Cubs, Astros, or Red Sox, who won every World Series from 2015 to 2018.
Those four teams had one thing in common with the Giants of the early 2000s: They built top-ranked farm systems in the years before they went from chum to champions.
The Cardinals aren’t there yet, but they’re heading in the right direction. Early draft picks and improved farm system rankings are important steps on the road toward a return to October relevance.
So, even though these are indeed dark days for Cardinals fans, there is a clear blueprint for better times ahead.
Now available – 2026 Cardinals Prospect Guide
The Cardinal Nation Prospect Guide is back for its ninth year. It includes 275 pages of in-depth commentary about the very best St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers, including over five dozen all-new player scouting reports by Kyle Reis. Order your PDF or spiral-bound printed book copy today.
All paid members can purchase our Prospect Guide PDF at 50% off. Thank you for your support of The Cardinal Nation!
Join The Cardinal Nation for the most comprehensive coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals from the majors through the entire minor league system.
Lou Schuler is a journalist, author, and lifelong Cardinals fan. Born and raised in the St. Louis area, he now lives in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley with his wife and their three children.
A new entry at 5a on The Cardinal Nation’s 2026 Top 50 Prospect List is a talented switch-pitcher acquired from Seattle in the Brendan Donovan trade. Jurrangelo Cijntje finished his first pro season strongly at Double-A. What is first for him as a Cardinal?
This content is for paid members only. Join The Cardinal Nation today! Register
The Cardinal Nation’s Brian Walton is joined by analyst Kyle Reis for a weekly discussion of St. Louis Cardinals news, with a focus on player development and the minor leagues.
The podcasts are quick hitting and timely, covering a short list of current topics in 30 to 45 minutes. More information on everything discussed can be found in articles here at The Cardinal Nation.
Before they dive into the Donovan trade, Brian and Kyle discuss local TV plans for 2026, new scouting director Zach Mortimer and the two additional draft picks acquired. They say goodbye to Donnie then cover the three new Cardinals prospects, Cijntje, Peete and Ledbetter, including where they may be ranked on The Cardinal Nation’s 2026 Cardinals Top 50 Prospect List.
All video of episodes of the return of Wednesday With Walton at The Cardinal Nation can be found here.
The video and audio are also simulcast each week via your favorite podcast apps: Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts IHeartRadio and YouTube. Subscription details are here.
The Cardinal Nation Prospect Guide is back for its ninth year. It includes 275 pages of in-depth commentary about the very best St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers, including over five dozen all-new player scouting reports by Kyle Reis. Order your PDF or spiral-bound printed book copy today.
All paid members can purchase our Prospect Guide PDF at 50% off. Thank you for your support of The Cardinal Nation!
Join The Cardinal Nation for the most comprehensive coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals from the majors through the entire minor league system.
Check out Kyle’s work at Birds on the Black and his very popular Prospects After Dark interactive podcasts. He is also one of the most informative and entertaining Cardinals related social media follows at @kyler416.
The St. Louis Cardinals have reportedly promoted national crosschecker Zach Mortimer to a new assignment, Director of Amateur Acquisitions, which includes responsibility for the draft.
This content is for paid members only. Join The Cardinal Nation today! Register
In-market St. Louis Cardinals games in 2026 will be produced and distributed by Major League Baseball across TV and streaming. FanDuel Sports is out.
St. Louis Cardinals release
The St. Louis Cardinals announced today (Monday, February 2) that Major League Baseball will produce and distribute all in-market St. Louis Cardinals games for the 2026 season. Fans will be able to watch games on traditional cable and satellite providers as well as through Cardinals.TV, the MLB direct-to-consumer streaming platform accessible from the MLB app or MLB.com, with no blackout restrictions.
“Our top priority is making sure that Cardinals fans can watch their team as easily as possible,” said Anuk Karunaratne, Cardinals Senior Vice President of Business Operations. “Whether you prefer cable, satellite, or streaming, you’ll have uninterrupted access to every in-market game through this new model. MLB brings world-class production capabilities, and we’re excited about what this means for the future of Cardinals broadcasts.”
Fans can purchase a Cardinals.TV streaming subscription when packages go on sale on February 10. Cardinals.TV can be purchased for $99.99 for the full season or $19.99 per month. Information on cable and satellite providers, including specific channel locations, will be announced at a later date.
With today’s announcement, the Cardinals become the eighth team whose local games will be produced and distributed by MLB, joining the Diamondbacks, Guardians, Padres, Rockies, Twins, Mariners and Nationals.
In recent seasons, MLB-produced local games have incorporated national-level innovations including live drones, Wire Cam, RF cameras with a shallow depth-of-field cinematic look, and two Umpire Cam formats—the mask-mounted camera behind home plate and the chest-mounted camera in the field. These broadcasts have also delivered unprecedented player access, introducing multiple first-of-their-kind moments for MLB local coverage. MLB has won Sports Emmy Awards for its local game production of the Padres and Twins, while MLB Network has won multiple national Sports Emmy Awards for its game production since 2009.
Additional information, including television broadcasters and the 2026 Spring Training broadcast schedule, will be announced in the coming weeks.
For more information, including a list of frequently asked questions, visit cardinals.com/tv.
Now available – 2026 Cardinals Prospect Guide
The Cardinal Nation Prospect Guide is back for its ninth year. It includes 275 pages of in-depth commentary about the very best St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers, including over five dozen all-new player scouting reports by Kyle Reis. Order your PDF or spiral-bound printed book copy today.
All paid members can purchase our Prospect Guide PDF at 50% off. Thank you for your support of The Cardinal Nation!
The Cardinal Nation’s Brian Walton is joined by analyst Kyle Reis for a weekly discussion of St. Louis Cardinals news, with a focus on player development and the minor leagues.
Our podcasts are quick hitting and timely, covering a short list of current topics in approximately 30 minutes. More information on everything we discuss can be found in articles here at The Cardinal Nation.
Brian and Kyle discuss The Cardinal Nation’s 2026 St. Louis Cardinals Prospect Guide, the return of Yadier Molina, Cardinals on national Top 100 prospect lists, Spring Training non-roster invitees, including newcomer Nelson Velázquez, and those passed over.
All video of episodes of the return of Wednesday With Walton at The Cardinal Nation can be found here.
The video and audio are also simulcast each week via your favorite podcast apps: Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts IHeartRadio and YouTube. Subscription details are here.
The Cardinal Nation Prospect Guide is back for its ninth year. It includes 275 pages of in-depth commentary about the very best St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers, including over five dozen all-new player scouting reports by Kyle Reis. Order your PDF or spiral-bound printed book copy today.
All paid members can purchase our Prospect Guide PDF at 50% off. Thank you for your support of The Cardinal Nation!
Join The Cardinal Nation for the most comprehensive coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals from the majors through the entire minor league system.
Check out Kyle’s work at Birds on the Black and his very popular Prospects After Dark interactive podcasts. He is also one of the most informative and entertaining Cardinals related social media follows at @kyler416.
Now available, The Cardinal Nation Prospect Guide is back for its ninth year. The 2026 Guide features 275 pages of in-depth commentary covering the very best St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers, including in-depth scouting reports on over five dozen players.
TCN owner Brian Walton and scouting analyst Kyle Reis provide more than five dozen individual player profiles featuring scouting reports, probable 2026 team assignment, Rule 5 status, estimated MLB arrival, ultimate potential and our personal 2026 sleeper picks.
The Guide also includes a detailed recap of the 2025 minor league season across the Cardinals system – team and stats leaders. It concludes with an extensive history section on past Cardinals drafts, international signings, awards and much more.
The Guide is again available with three pricing options in two formats – the PDF version (offered at half-price for paid subscribers of The Cardinal Nation) and the popular spiral-bound printed book, with no additional cost for mailing to the 48 continental states.
There is no price increase for 2026, and in fact, the prices for the PDFs have been reduced from 2025!
Click on the box below to read full details and place your order today!
photo: Oliver Marmol and Yadier Molina (Jeff Curry/Imagn Images)
Former St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina is re-joining the team as a Special Assistant to President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom.
St. Louis Cardinals release
The St. Louis Cardinals announced today (Wednesday, January 21) that Cardinals great and two-time World Series Champion Yadier Molina is re-joining the team as a Special Assistant to President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom.
“We are happy to welcome Yadi back to the Cardinals organization,” stated Bloom. “He is an elite competitor, a consistent winner, and one of the greatest ever at his position, and we look forward to many contributions during his visits with us in this new role, both in and out of uniform. Yadi will provide input on our catching program, will advise our staff on catching and game planning strategy, and will give me and our front office valuable perspective from his unique vantage point. Perhaps most important, he will help us nurture in our players the high standards, attention to detail, and championship mindset that are so critical to winning.”
Molina, 43, anchored the Cardinals’ 2006 and 2011 World Championship teams, plus the 2004 and 2013 National League pennant winners. He batted .328 (22-for-67) in 21 Fall Classic games and is the franchise career leader in postseason games (104) and hits (102). Over the course of Molina’s career, the Cardinals played merely 24 of a possible 2,921 games when they were mathematically eliminated from postseason contention.
Molina is the lone player in baseball history to catch 2,000 or more career games for one team, and his 2,184 games caught rank fourth overall. Both his 2,112 starts and 1,234 wins in games caught are second most behind Ivan Rodriguez (2,346 and 1,254), while his .99490 fielding percentage is fractionally second to A.J. Pierzynski (.99496). Molina is the all-time leader in total chances (16,267) and putouts (15,122) among catchers, and he ranks ninth with a 40.27 caught stealing percentage. He won nine Gold Gloves – third most among catchers behind Rodriguez (13) and Johnny Bench (10) – and four Platinum Gloves. Among Cardinals, only Ozzie Smith has earned more Gold Gloves (11), while Bob Gibson also won nine.
A 10-time National League All-Star and Cardinals fan-favorite, “Yadi” was selected in the fourth round of the 2000 MLB Draft and played all 19 of his Major League seasons in St. Louis from 2004-22, second in franchise longevity only to Stan Musial (22 seasons). The right-handed swinging Molina is one of five Cardinals with 2,000 hits and 1,000 RBI – joining Musial, Rogers Hornsby, Albert Pujols and Enos Slaughter – and slashed .277/.327/.399 for his career.
Molina and his long-time friend and teammate Adam Wainwright set all-time MLB batterymate records for career starts (328) and team wins in starts (213).
In 2015, Molina received the Darryl Kile Award, presented by the St. Louis chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of American to a Cardinals player, by vote of his teammates, who demonstrates the qualities that Kile brought to the clubhouse: those of a good teammate, a great friend, a fine father and a humble man.
Molina received the prestigious Robeto Clemente Award in 2018 for his relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Maria in his native Puerto Rico. He played for the Puerto Rican team in four World Baseball Classics (2006, 2009, 2013 and 2017) and served as manager in 2023 with plans to do so again this year.
Molina managed the Criollos de Caguas to the both the 2023 and 2024 Roberto Clemente League title in Puerto Pico and guided the team to the 2024 Caribbean Series. Yadi also managed Navegantes del Magallanes of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League to the playoffs in 2022. He returned to the team in 2025 and was recently awarded VPBL Manager of the Year honors.
Now 20% off – 2025 Cardinals Prospect Guide
The Cardinal Nation Prospect Guide is back for its eighth year. It includes 256 pages of in-depth commentary about the very best St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers, including dozens of all-new player scouting reports. Order your PDF or spiral-bound printed book copy today, with the latter on closeout for 20% off!
All paid members can purchase our Prospect Guide PDF at 50% off. Thank you for your support of The Cardinal Nation!
photo: Bill DeWitt III (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
The Cardinal Nation’s Brian Walton is joined by analyst Kyle Reis for a weekly discussion of St. Louis Cardinals news, with a focus on player development and the minor leagues.
Our podcasts are quick hitting and timely, covering a short list of current topics in approximately 30 minutes. More information on everything we discuss can be found in articles here at The Cardinal Nation.
Brian and Kyle focus on their thoughts from St. Louis Cardinals Winter Warm-Up – The DeWitts including owner succession, stadium remodel, labor strife, Donovan, Doyle, Walker, Scott, Pallante, Marmol’s extension, Player Development investment and more!
And if you have other questions or topics related to WWU that you’d like us to cover, please let us know via our social media accounts liked below or on the WWU thread at The Cardinal Nation’s free forum.
All video of episodes of the return of Wednesday With Walton at The Cardinal Nation can be found here.
The video and audio are also simulcast each week via your favorite podcast apps: Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts IHeartRadio and YouTube. Subscription details are here.
The Cardinal Nation Prospect Guide is back for its eighth year. It includes 256 pages of in-depth commentary about the very best St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers, including dozens of all-new player scouting reports. Order your PDF or spiral-bound printed book copy today, with the latter on closeout for 20% off!
All paid members can purchase our Prospect Guide PDF at 50% off. Thank you for your support of The Cardinal Nation!
Subscribe to The Cardinal Nation for the most comprehensive coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals from the majors through the entire minor league system.
Check out Kyle’s work at Birds on the Black and his very popular Prospects After Dark interactive podcasts. He is also one of the most informative and entertaining Cardinals related social media follows at @kyler416.
The Cardinal Nation’s Brian Walton is joined by analyst Kyle Reis for a weekly discussion of St. Louis Cardinals news, with a focus on player development and the minor leagues.
Our podcasts are quick hitting and timely, covering a short list of current topics in approximately 30 minutes. More information on everything we discuss can be found in articles here at The Cardinal Nation.
Brian and Kyle open an extended podcast with new Cardinals pitchers Stanek, Zimmermann and Martinez and say goodbye to Nolan Arenado. They spend most of the episode breaking down the starting pitching candidates at each level from St. Louis down to Palm Beach and close with a preview of Thursday’s international signing period opening.
All video of episodes of the return of Wednesday With Walton at The Cardinal Nation can be found here.
The video and audio are also simulcast each week via your favorite podcast apps: Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts IHeartRadio and YouTube. Subscription details are here.
The Cardinal Nation Prospect Guide is back for its eighth year. It includes 256 pages of in-depth commentary about the very best St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers, including dozens of all-new player scouting reports. Order your PDF or spiral-bound printed book copy today, with the latter on closeout for 20% off!
All paid members can purchase our Prospect Guide PDF at 50% off. Thank you for your support of The Cardinal Nation!
Subscribe to The Cardinal Nation for the most comprehensive coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals from the majors through the entire minor league system.
Check out Kyle’s work at Birds on the Black and his very popular Prospects After Dark interactive podcasts. He is also one of the most informative and entertaining Cardinals related social media follows at @kyler416.
The Cardinal Nation’s Brian Walton is joined by analyst Kyle Reis for a weekly discussion of St. Louis Cardinals news, with a focus on player development and the minor leagues.
Our podcasts are quick hitting and timely, covering a short list of current topics in approximately 30 minutes. More information on everything we discuss can be found in articles here at The Cardinal Nation.
Brian and Kyle open 2026 with World Baseball Classic talk, then the acquisition of lefty reliever Justin Bruihl. The primary focus this week is the Top 6 St. Louis Cardinals prospects for 2026 and two additions from Boston in the Willson Contreras trade.
All video of episodes of the return of Wednesday With Walton at The Cardinal Nation can be found here.
The video and audio are also simulcast each week via your favorite podcast apps: Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts IHeartRadio and YouTube. Subscription details are here.
The Cardinal Nation Prospect Guide is back for its eighth year. It includes 256 pages of in-depth commentary about the very best St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers, including dozens of all-new player scouting reports. Order your PDF or spiral-bound printed book copy today, with the latter on closeout for 20% off!
All paid members can purchase our Prospect Guide PDF at 50% off. Thank you for your support of The Cardinal Nation!
Subscribe to The Cardinal Nation for the most comprehensive coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals from the majors through the entire minor league system.
Check out Kyle’s work at Birds on the Black and his very popular Prospects After Dark interactive podcasts. He is also one of the most informative and entertaining Cardinals related social media follows at @kyler416.
Inserted at no. 20a on The Cardinal Nation’s 2026 Top 50 prospect list is a 19-year-old acquired from Boston in December. Why don’t we already have Yhoiker Fajardo as a Top 10 prospect in the system, as do some others?
This content is for paid members only. Join The Cardinal Nation today! Register
Inserted into The Cardinal Nation’s 2026 Top 50 prospect list at no. 24a is a right-hander acquired from the Red Sox in the Contreras trade. Blake Aita has a Ryan Helsley-like frame and delivery, but does he have similar potential?
This content is for paid members only. Join The Cardinal Nation today! Register
In a FREE article, the identity of The Cardinal Nation’s no. 1 prospect for 2026 should be no surprise, JJ Wetherholt. The St. Louis Cardinals organization’s Player of the Year is poised to make his MLB debut. What is the infielder’s ceiling?
If a prospect can be both incredibly boring and incredibly exciting all at once, then that prospect is James Tiberius Wetherholt… No, I mean Jonathan David Wetherholt.
It’s very simple with Wetherholt; he just doesn’t do anything wrong. It’s crazy. He’s as polished of a position player prospect as I’ve ever seen in the Cardinals minors. I remember thinking the same thing about Brendan Donovan at the end of the 2022 season, but Wetherholt takes this to another level. Wetherholt doesn’t make mistakes in the field or on the bases or at the plate. He’s pesky and athletic and smart. Wetherholt knows exactly who he is, while, at the same time, trying to be more and more and better and better. Everything about who he is and what he does just feels so rare, especially in this day and age of baseball taught in labs as much as it’s learned on the diamond.
Before we get into the raving part of this write-up, let’s sober up a little.
I spent a lot of time thinking about Dylan Carlson’s first full season of 2021. I also spent a lot of time thinking about Stephen Piscotty’s first 500-600 at-bats between the 2015 and 2016 seasons. And, man, the second half of Jordan Walker in 2023 once the Cardinals recalled him from Triple-A after sending him down following a Major League debut that he wasn’t ready for, and that plays constantly in my mind.
I mean, if I told you that Wetherholt was going to hit .266/.343/.437 with 31 doubles and 18 homers like Carlson did during his rookie season, then you’d be happy, I’d hope. Same goes if I were to tell you that he’ll hit .308/.373/.488 with 29 doubles and 14 homers in his first 501 plate appearances like Stephen Piscotty did. Or, if he hits .277/.346/.455 with 16 doubles and 14 homers over 387 plate appearances after June 1st like Jordan Walker did in 2023, that’d be thrilling. By the way, if this falls short of your expectations, then you’re absolutely what the British in the TV shows that I watch call “mental”.
I bring up these examples for two reasons. First, what you won’t see from Wetherholt that you saw from all three of his predecessors is a strikeout rate at-or-above 20%. Wetherholt is a more advanced hitter across the board than that group. Second, I bring it up because it’s really not about what Wetherholt does in his first season in the Majors. I can promise you he’ll be above league average at the plate. It’s really about what comes AFTER his first full season in the Majors. These versions of these prospects in their debuts ABSOLUTELY deserved the hype that they received. While Piscotty did recover for one season with Oakland, it was what came next that brought the disappointment.
The Major League season is a grind, and the rushed nature of prospect development and the lack of patience by organizations has steadily increased the gap in talent between the Majors and the Minors.
Just a little something to chew on…
With Wetherholt, I just keep coming back to his polish and baseball I.Q. This young man just “GETS” it. His intangibles alone would have gotten him drafted in the top 50 even if all his skills took a step back. I cannot stress loudly enough how much Cardinals’ fans are going to love his makeup.
The only real hole in Wetherholt’s profile is his ability to pull the baseball over the fence for power. However, at some point, you can’t really care about that, especially when you are talking about a middle infielder whose carry tool is his ability to hit. It hasn’t influenced how good he’s been so far, so let’s not lose our minds over it. It’ll surely be the crux of what level of success or what version of either Brendan Donovan or Matt Carpenter (and hopefully not Stephen Piscotty or Dylan Carlson long term) that Wetherholt becomes. When you do everything else at the plate as well as Wetherholt does, pull power really doesn’t matter. Lacking in pull power may stop him from becoming a superstar in the long run, but it won’t stop him from becoming an impact bat capable of living in the 15%-30% above-average range at the plate during the prime of his career.
This sentiment doubled when you take into account Wetherholt’s natural ability to hit the absolute crap out of the ball to the opposite field. It’s line drive power down the third base line and loud and often over-the-fence power into the left-center gap. His power to the opposite field is the loudest, most natural, and most unique part of his profile. It has been his calling card since his early days at West Virginia. It’s pure and gorgeous, and it’s why I’m not exactly worried about how he’ll perform against left-handed pitchers with elite breaking stuff at the next level as compared to the Major League average.
The other reason that I don’t think that I care at all about pull-power with Wetherholt is that he just so freaking good at everything else. Sure, there might be some issues at the next level with heaters high and outside and both heaters and breaking pitches low and in, but they’ll be minimal. That’s because Wetherholt hardly swings and misses, and he makes smart swing decisions as compared to nearly everyone alive. He wasn’t challenged nearly as much at Triple-A as he was in Double-A oddly enough (I’m sorry that I don’t have more time to get into this), but we know from the Triple-A data that Wetherholt combines the ability to find the barrel, hit the ball hard, make plus swing decisions, and work a count as well as any hitter who took a Triple-A at-bat in 2025. Other prospects might do one of these things or a couple of these things better than Wetherholt did, but few had Wetherholt’s total package.
Wetherholt’s ability to hit the ball hard with an advanced understanding of the zone is what separates him from the prospect that Dylan Carlson was. Wetherholt hits the ball harder more consistently than Carlson did, even if both have/had some concerns about the high-end exit velocities. Wetherholt’s understanding of the zone, his ability to lift the ball, and his contact rates specifically in-zone separate him from the prospect that Jordan Walker was from a polish standpoint.
Which, of course, says nothing for Wetherholt’s ability to put backspin on the baseball. It isn’t the biggest deal on Earth, but it could be a true game-changer in his profile if he does find more pull power along the lines. Wetherholt can get a little too passive now and then in-zone, and some would like to see him make more impactful contact within the heart of the zone, but I feel confident that we’ll see both things tick up for JJ once he is challenged more at the major league level. He’s a more gifted baseball player than someone like Lars Nootbaar, and I’m confident that he’ll learn that being passive at the plate only hurts his profile, which Nootbaar has yet to learn. Then again, if Wetherholt doesn’t learn this, then he’ll never be the hitter that he’s capable of being.
As I write this, I find myself liking Wetherholt more and more. WILD STUFF.
I think what impressed me the most during the 2025 season was how athletic Wetherholt is. There’s this weird sort of… stiffness to his motions, but he’s just so natural at getting himself squared up. This is across the board with base-running, playing defense, and swinging the bat. It’s not as common as you’d think, and that it’s natural with Wetherholt is a huge plus. His combination of athleticism, baseball I.Q, and ability to stay balanced while getting squared up is why I have all the confidence in the world that Wetherholt will be an above-average defender at whatever position or positions that he ends up playing in the Majors.
Like with Brendan Donovan, his arm is better suited for the right side of the infield, but it’s perfectly fine for the left side of the diamond. Sometimes he can even reach deep down and let it loose. If there’s one thing that I’m certain of, it’s that JJ Wetherholt was born to play baseball. Wetherholt could more than handle short at Triple-A, and his defensive prowess is the aspect of his game that is most underrated nationally. He’s still hardly played third, but his work ethic along with his natural abilities make me confident that he’ll figure the position out sooner than later.
The second most underrated aspect of Wetherholt’s game is his speed. He’s not a plus runner, but he’s quick and agile, and he gets good jumps. Since he’s such a smart baseball player, he’s going to take an extra base where he can, and he’s going to steal more than he should for his speed. Some prospects might steal 20+ bases in the minors, then be lucky to reach 10 in the majors even if they get on base. I have confidence that Wetherholt will be able to put up a couple of 15+ stolen base seasons in his prime, and I can’t say that for many of the prospects that appear on this list. That’s in part because I’m not sure how many of them will be able to get on base enough and also because I’m not sure how many of them will be able to steal against MLB caliber catchers.
Anyway, I don’t even really know what I’m saying anymore, so let me square myself up a little bit.
It’s very, VERY simple with Wetherholt. He’s an underestimated athlete who is above-average at basically everything that you’d ask someone to do on the diamond, and he’s more Major League-ready than I’m comfortable admitting. Wetherholt is as equally unflappable as he is a sure bet to have a long MLB career because of how hard he works to make as few mistakes as a baseball player can in this game built on failure. Wetherholt is the prototype for what every Cardinals fan grew up championing: hustle, baseball intelligence, high character, and leaving it all out on the field.
As we enter a new age of Cardinals baseball, there isn’t a more perfect prospect to ring in the new age than JJ Wetherholt, as he represents all that is right with both traditional and modern baseball.
Brian Walton’s environmental impact report
Brian’s ranking – no. 1
It should be no surprise that Wetherholt is our repeat selection as the top prospect in the Cardinals system.
Background
The Cardinals had to be absolutely delighted when one of the top players, if not THE top player, in the 2024 draft was still available when their first pick at number seven overall came up.
Heading into the draft, Wetherholt was ranked as the number one eligible prospect according to Fangraphs, third per Baseball America and The Athletic and fourth by MLB Pipeline.
Recurring hamstring issues that caused him to miss 24 of 60 games at West Virginia and play often as designated hitter in 2024 may have contributed to Wetherholt’s falling to the Cardinals.
Wetherholt’s excellent bat to ball skills were evidenced by his NCAA-leading .449 batting average in 2023. That dropped to “just” .331 in 2024. Wetherholt’s 36 stolen bases were tops in the Big 12 in 2023, when the then-sophomore was conference Player of the Year.
Wetherholt, a Pittsburgh-area native, played three seasons for the Mountaineers, slashing .370/.468/.625/1.093 with 29 home runs, 49 doubles, 129 RBI, 148 runs and a 1:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio with 82 walks in 145 career games. In 2022, he was a teammate of Cardinals outfielder Victor Scott.
The pool amount for his pick was $6,823,700 and he signed for $76,300 more, an even $6.9 million. That represented just over 2/3 of the organization’s total spending in the 2024 Draft.
Wetherholt opened his professional career slowly. Over 21 August contests with Low-A Palm Beach, he slashed just .219/.356/.288/.644. However, in September, he heated up with an impressive 1.247 OPS including nine RBI and eight runs scored over the final six games of the regular season. That led to his Florida State League Player of the Week recognition for the period ending September 8.
Overall, Wetherholt slashed .295/.405/.400/.805 in 126 plate appearances over 29 regular season games and logged the highest average exit velocity of any Palm Beach hitter at 91.9 mph. His strikeout and walk rates were excellent at 12.7% and 11.9%, respectively. His wRC+ of 137 was 37% above the Florida State League average.
As the Beach Birds plowed their way to the Florida State League championship, Wetherholt led the way. In 23 plate appearances over five playoff games, the shortstop slashed .421/.522/.684/1.206. Wetherholt hit a triple and a home run, drew four walks, plated six and scored four times.
In Baseball America’s Best Tools assessment for the Cardinals system, Wetherholt led the way with three designations. They were “Best Hitter for Average”, “Best Strike Zone Discipline” and “Best Power Hitter”.
2025 recap
Rarely does a first rounder from the year before receive a non-roster invitation to big league spring training, but Wetherholt is not an average player. Once there, he was given a long look, making 26 plate appearances over 10 games. Wetherholt’s slash line was a modest .100/.308/.250/.558.
As the regular season opened, the Cardinals skipped Wetherholt over High-A Peoria. With Double-A Springfield in 275 plate appearances over 62 games, the shortstop slashed .300/.425/.466/.891. He drew more walks (44) than strikeouts taken (40) and was 14-for-16 in stolen base attempts. Defensively, he played in his first 17 professional games at second base.
JJ Wetherholt (PJ Maigi/Springfield Cardinals)
A few days before his July 11 All-Star Futures Game appearance as the only Cardinals representative, Wetherholt was promoted to Triple-A Memphis. To say the transition to the minors’ highest level went smoothly is an understatement. All Wetherholt did during July was to log an OPS of 1.103, good for Player of the Month honors from the Cardinals organization and The Cardinal Nation.
To conclude 2025, in his total 221 plate appearances over 47 games with the Redbirds, he slashed .314/.416/.562/.978. His 25 extra base hits were three more than he had at Double-A in 64 more plate appearances. Wetherholt struck out 33 times and walked 28 more.
Though Wetherholt officially added third base to his defensive portfolio with Memphis, the preparatory work began while he was still with Springfield. I asked him about it after the season.
“(Farm director) Larry Day, my manager Patrick Anderson and coach Danny Black said they were not dissatisfied with my defense at shortstop but wanted me to become a complete infielder,” Wetherholt said. “They threw out the idea of me playing third base just before the All-Star break.
“I started by learning the footwork, then tried it out in game action after three to four weeks. I then did third base reps and early work two or three times per week (for the remainder of the schedule),” he said.
Though serving as Memphis’ regular shortstop, Wetherholt also played in his first 12 games at third base but just three at second. His diversification focus had been shifted. For his part, the infielder wants to be ready for whatever is asked of him.
“My bat is coming along pretty well, and I was always thought of as a hit-first guy,” Wetherholt said. “I am going to focus on defensive versatility, which is a challenge I am up for. I want to show I am a good defender, too, and that they can have confidence in me in any situation.”
Across both stops in 2025, Wetherholt ranked among qualifying Cardinals minor league leaders in OPS (second), batting average (third), on-base percentage (second), slugging percentage (third), Weighted Run Created Plus (second), hits (125, second), Isolated Power (.203, fourth), extra-base hits (47, second) doubles (28, second), home runs (third), walks (72, first), runs (82, first), stolen bases (T-sixth), RBI (eighth) and walk to strikeout ratio (0.99, third). His .421 on-base percentage ranked fifth among all qualified players across the 30 MLB organizations.
Following the season, Wetherholt racked up multiple honors. He was a Texas League All-Star and the circuit’s Most Valuable Player. He was named to the All-MiLB Prospect First-Team and was chosen as the International League’s MLB Prospect of the Year. Finally, the Cardinals selected him as their organizational Player of the Year.
In Baseball America’s Best Tools selections across the Cardinals system disclosed in the fall, Wetherholt was again recognized three times. His nods as “Best Hitter for Average” and “Best Strike-Zone Discipline” were repeats. He added “Best Defensive Infielder” but appropriately ceded “Best Power Hitter” honors to Rainiel Rodriguez.
According to the major national prospect raters, Wetherholt is a consensus Top 10 prospect in MLB.
2026 outlook
Wetherholt is certain to receive his second consecutive non-roster invitation to St. Louis’ spring camp, but he is coming into year two with a different mindset.
“This spring training is definitely going to be a little bit of a different vibe,” Wetherholt said in the fall. “I’m going to go out there looking to make the team. Last year, I was kind of just there for the experience, but this year, we’ll have the goal of making the team on our plate, and I’m going to work to do so.”
Most expect that Wetherholt’s play in spring training will determine whether he is with St. Louis on Opening Day or returns to Memphis for more seasoning. Most of the focus will be on his bat, but remember that his professional career total of games played at any defensive position other than shortstop is just 32, or barely a month.
The Cardinals and Wetherholt both have ample motivation in the spring. The rebuilding team could earn an extra 2027 draft pick after the first round if Wetherholt accrues one year of service in 2026 and is named National League Rookie of the Year.
JJ Wetherholt (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
Like everyone else at this point, Cardinals AGM of Player Development and Performance Rob Cerfolio doesn’t know how and where Wetherholt will be used in 2026. The job of his group is to ensure JJ is ready for anything asked of him.
“Everybody sees the stat line with this guy and that in itself is impressive, but for me the part that is more impressive is the one o’clock to six o’clock part of his day and how he wins that part of his day and how that helps set the standard for what we want to see organizationally for all of our players,” Cerfolio said. “Attention to detail, the reps that he takes are intentional and deliberate.
“And he deserves a lot of credit for his growth on defense. (Farm director) Larry Day and (field coordinator) Ryan Barba and the whole crew that was really partnering with him on, ‘What can we do to make you a better shortstop?’ with the some of the technique of the fielding phase and how he throws.
“Also spending time at second and third and the different demands that those positions require. Like we never know what position the major league manager needs to write these guys into for the first time, so from our vantage point, it’s ‘How do we give them versatility and options to get into that lineup card easier?’ And JJ really attacked that and never had any ego on what he can or can’t do. He just was always interested in ‘How do I get better?’ He deserves a lot of credit,” Cerfolio concluded.
Future outlook
Future Value: 60
Role: All-Star
Risk: Moderate
The Cardinals’ second half 2025 shift of Wetherholt’s defensive diversification from second base to third hints to where his initial home with St. Louis may be. But that also depends on the makeup of the roster at the end of March. Per my sources, the Cardinals prefer Brendan Donovan at second base, and even if he is traded, they have multiple options at the keystone better than their other choices on the left side.
Speaking of the left side, a National League scout reminded me that even after Wetherholt settles in at another position, his time at shortstop may not be completely behind him.
“The Cardinals have no shortstop off the bench,” the evaluator said. “(Thomas) Saggese is below average there and they won’t play (Jose) Fermin.”
Obviously, even if the Cardinals embraced the idea of Wetherholt at shortstop, it would only be an occasional event unless Masyn Winn has to sit out for any significant period.
Regarding Wetherholt’s ceiling, he currently stands alone as the only 60 Future Value (All-Star) in the Cardinals system. But I do not yet feel comfortable calling that Low risk of occurring, hence the Moderate assignment, which is identical to the year before. (And I write this before reading Kyle’s history lesson.) But, had I assessed Wetherholt a 55 FV (above average regular/occasional All-Star), I would then call his risk Low.
Either way, before very long in 2026, we should see Wetherholt join St. Louis’ starting lineup and remain there for years to come. He will be added to the 40-man roster the day he is called up.
MLB debut: 2026 Rule 5 eligible: 2027
Our 2026 Top 50 series continues
You’d think our Top 50 countdown would end with no. 1, but we have two new pitchers to include. Blake Aita and Yhoiker Fajardo joined the organization in late December and will be inserted into our already unveiled rankings.
Look for a two-fer Tuesday on January 5 as the pair of pitchers make our 2026 list a Top 52!
To see the entire list of top Cardinals prospects, grading scales and remaining article schedule, click here. This includes the Top 50 countdown and 10 in-depth, follow-up articles breaking down the list.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider joining The Cardinal Nation to receive the most comprehensive coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals from the majors through the entire minor league system, including access to every article in our 2026 Top Cardinals Prospects series.
The top-ranked pitcher in The Cardinal Nation’s 2026 Top 50 prospect countdown is the Cardinals’ first-round draft pick in 2025. How fast can Liam Doyle reach St. Louis and will the lefty become a badly needed top-of-the rotation arm?
This content is for paid members only. Join The Cardinal Nation today! Register
The Cardinal Nation’s 2026 Top 50 countdown reaches no. 3 with the best power hitter in the system. At just 19 years of age in 2026, the sky is the limit for catcher Rainiel Rodriguez.
This content is for paid members only. Join The Cardinal Nation today! Register
Fourth in The Cardinal Nation’s 2026 Top 50 prospect countdown is the organization’s 2024 Pitcher of the Year. Quinn Mathews had a decent 2025 amid physical struggles and adjustments. When will the lefty be ready to join St. Louis?
This content is for paid members only. Join The Cardinal Nation today! Register
In a FREE article, at no. 5 in The Cardinal Nation’s Top 50 prospect countdown for 2026 is a switch-hitting catcher who played his entire age 21 season at Double-A, earning a Minor League Gold Glove and a 40-man roster spot. What is next for Leonardo Bernal at a crowded position?
You’ve already received this warning about Jimmy Crooks, and you’ll get it again one more time before we finish this countdown, but I want to start with reminding everyone that catchers are the toughest to evaluate and the slowest to develop to even an MLB-capable level.
It usually takes years for a catcher to develop into a player that is capable of the demands of the “tools of ignorance”. There is so much that goes into the role, from knowing your pitching staff from top to bottom, to knowing all of the hitters across the league, to staying in shape and keeping your knees and body healthy, to almost always being asked to be the team leader, to many other things that I haven’t listed. Often, these demands eat up even the elite of the elite. I love talking about Carson Kelly because it took him until his 30’s to become the catcher that we all thought he could be.
Granted, Kelly had a late start to catching after converting from third base early in his affiliated career, so it’s not a 1-for-1 comparison.
That brings us to my favorite catching prospect in the organization, switch-hitting Leo Bernal.
There are so many reasons to be excited about Bernal. First is the work that he has done behind the plate. A year ago, any uneducated national prospect writer would point to this as his biggest deficiency and part of the reason why he wasn’t getting a ton of national love as a top catching prospect.
Regardless of the accuracy of the assessment, Bernal took it upon himself to fully dedicate himself to become the best backstop possible. With the help of the Cardinals and specifically the work of catching coordinator Ethan Goforth, Bernal turned his game up a notch. Now Bernal is a minor league Gold Glover, and he was widely considered to be the best defensive catcher at Double-A during the 2025 season. There were some sluggish moments after the midseason mark for Bernal, but this was due mostly to catching more games behind the plate in a shorter period than ever before. Leo received more DH time down the stretch, and that helped to strengthen him. Still, he’s going to have to continue to build his stamina and the ability to consistently handle a Major League-type workload.
Bernal doesn’t always have the pop times of fellow catching prospect Crooks, but they’re still sub 1.95 seconds to second base. That’ll work, especially when you consider Bernal’s plus arm. I’ve seen some describe Bernal as a poor blocker, and that’s somewhat inaccurate. I assert that he’s minor league above average, which pretty much makes him major league average at it, and what other evaluators are doing is mistaking his big, delightfully thick body as unathletic and lacking in mobility. Again, he’s a “thicc boi”, but that doesn’t prevent him going side-to-side to block pitches in the dirt. Bernal works from one knee behind the plate, and I’m sure some will think that hurts his ability to block the ball in the dirt. Well, it only does when he gets so crossed up that he can’t launch off his right knee on inside pitches to righties when he’s set up outside.
From there, Bernal has turned himself into a good game-caller and an above-average framer all around the zone. He’s really done an amazing job in cultivating himself behind the plate.
The switch-hitting of Bernal is an interesting topic, and one that I could spend no less than 200,000 words on if left unfiltered. To start, I want reemphasize how unimportant counting stats are when appraising potential. With Bernal, I was quick to tell everyone that his real power potential and swing damage ability was from the right side even though he was hitting his homers exclusively from the left side early in the season. Now that the season’s dust has settled, and a full examination of his swings from each side of the plate are possible, it’s obvious that Bernal’s right-handed cut is better designed for power and performance.
As so often happens with switch-hitters, Bernal splits his plate skills in half. His swing from the left side is loopier than from the right side, and his bat speed is slower. He’s also displayed a better approach from the left-handed side on pitches both in and out of the strike zone. From the right-handed box, Bernal is a more aggressive hitter that swings a little too frequently for his own good, even while displaying impressive walk rates. There’s some obvious balancing that he needs to achieve between each swing that will be key for his long-term switch-hitting sustainability.
Bernal’s beauty is that even with these issues, he is still a VERY good hitter from both sides of the plate. Bernal rarely misses when he’s swinging inside the zone. If he can keep the ball in the air or on a line, then his slash line will tick up as compared to what it was at the end of the 2025 Double-A season. If he’s capable of carrying what he’s doing now to the major leagues, even without advancements and development, then he’s a top 10-15 catcher in baseball in a couple of years.
The dirty little secret, and the part of his game that doesn’t get talked about enough, is how far he’s come to realize real power potential. As mentioned, Bernal has both the swing and the body that makes it easy to imagine him swatting 15+ homers at the major league level over a full season. That is especially so because of his work in-zone. Bernal will be entering his age-22 season in 2026, and all metrics under the hood regarding his power potential have ticked up year after year and from both sides of the plate. I cannot wait to see how it manifests in 2026.
2026 stands to be a big season for Bernal in his quest toward his Major League debut. There is a reason the Cardinals added him to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. That reason is that he has a very real chance to be a top 10 catcher in baseball if everything goes exactly “right” for him. As it stands right now, Bernal is certain of some type of major league catching role once he makes it to the majors, and at least a handful of years in the majors as a backup catcher, at least. If he can continue to build on the phenomenal work he’s done behind the plate and build some stat line results that match what we are seeing under the hood, then he’ll be a Major League starter at the very least.
Brian Walton’s environmental impact report
Brian’s ranking – no. 6
For me, Bernal’s placement on this list is simple. As I detailed in Jimmy Crooks’ report, my assessment is that Bernal has not yet accomplished what Crooks already did, at the same levels. That is why I have the two ranked consecutively, with Crooks holding the slight edge. That could change down the road, or it may not.
I mention Crooks a lot in this space, as the careers of the two have been intertwined. In summary, I think very highly of both as my no. 5 and 6 prospects in the system.
Background
The switch-hitting native of Panama received widespread attention when his team earned the silver medal in the 2018 Under-15 World Cup competition.
From among the 21 players in the Cardinals’ 2021 international class, Bernal received the third highest reported bonus. That $680,000 is the highest signing payment to a Panamanian in Cardinals history (according to my records), eclipsing shortstop Edmundo Sosa’s $425,000 bonus in 2012. Bernal is the second catcher from his homeland to become a Top 10 prospect in the system, following Ivan Herrera.
In the 2021 Dominican Summer League, Bernal slashed .209/.298/.373/.671 with an unusually low .224 BABIP. Bernal fanned at a 15.7% rate and walked at a 9.8% rate, both decent marks, especially for a first-year professional. He led the club in doubles (nine), extra base hits (15) and RBI (29).
Bernal made a big jump from his debut season in the DSL to a US minor league camp invitation in March 2022. He remained in Jupiter for extended spring training through April and May and into June. His big break came on June 5, when he was promoted onto the Low-A Palm Beach roster, skipping over the rookie-level Florida Complex League.
At 18 years and four months, Bernal immediately became the youngest player on the Florida State League team’s roster. He played well enough to remain for the remainder of 2022 despite five other catchers coming through Palm Beach.
Compared to his 2021 in the DSL, his strikeout rate went up three percent to 18.7% and his walk rate fell 2.6% to 7.0%, though neither change is concerning. His splits were impressive – a .784 OPS versus left-handed pitching and .768 against righties and his wRC+ was a solid 117.
Opening 2023, collegian Crooks was equally ready for High-A Peoria and received the season-opening nod instead, which was not surprising since he had been invited to St. Louis’ spring camp. The two catchers stayed put for the entire season, though Bernal’s 2023 with Palm Beach was truncated with over a month remaining due to a right hamate (hand) fracture.
After a period of restricted playing time, Bernal officially went on the injured list on August 10, ruining any chance of promoting him to Peoria for a taste of High-A in preparation for 2024. The timing of his injury was also unfortunate as Bernal was red-hot at the plate. The switch-hitting backstop had an August line of .333/.500/.467/.967, raising his season OPS to .743.
Despite his isolated power dropping from .199 in 2022 to .097 in 2023, Bernal was a very productive cleanup hitter, plating a solid 44 runners in just 78 games. His Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) of 111 for the season was close to his 117 mark the year before.
He didn’t quite walk as often as he struck out, 49 vs. 55 in 323 plate appearances, but the ratio was still exceptional. Bernal’s walk rate of 15.2% was sixth in the Cardinals system in 2023.
Bernal began 2024 with his first Cardinals spring training camp invitation, as a non-roster invitee. As expected, he was promoted to High-A Peoria to open the season.
In late August, injuries above enabled the Cardinals to promote Crooks to Memphis and Bernal to Springfield, in preparation for their presumed homes to open 2025.
For the season with the Chiefs, Bernal was head and shoulders above his peers in most stats, including OBP at .343 and RBI with 53. He walked 37 times and hit 17 doubles, both second most on the Peoria squad. Bernal posted a .270 average and a career-high 10 home runs while playing 96 games with the Chiefs.
Bernal displayed improved defense behind the plate as he threw out 38 runners in 108 tries (35.2%), had a fielding percentage of .991, with just seven errors in 782 chances, and was charged with only four passed balls in his 88 Midwest League games caught.
Not surprisingly, Bernal did not take off immediately against the better pitching in Double-A. In 55 plate appearances over 24 games with Springfield, he slashed .204/.291/.286/.577.
In the Texas League postseason, Bernal was hot at the plate, going 4-for-10 including a double and a home run. He added two walks for a tidy .400/.500/.800/1.300 line.
His 2024 continued with an assignment to the Arizona Fall League prospect showcase.
In the AFL, Bernal adapted to receiving limited playing time and his bat came around in the final few weeks. He increased his batting average from .250 after four weeks to .304 at the end of the schedule and finished with a .764 OPS in 51 plate appearances after having a .692 mark through five weeks.
Considering the mixed reviews of Bernal’s work behind the plate to that point, it was a bit surprising that Baseball America named him the “Best Defensive Catcher” in the Cardinals system heading into 2025.
2025 recap
Bernal was invited to St. Louis’ spring camp as a non-roster player for the second consecutive spring. From the start, rosters were constructed such that Bernal was tabbed to be the primary catcher at Double-A Springfield, a job he held the entire season.
Offensively, Bernal got off to a strong start, peaking in May and June, with OPSes of .898 and .945, respectively. He was the Texas League Player of the Week for the period of May 19-25.
His second half was much poorer at the plate, however. His final three months of OPS showed declines to .639, then .577 and .491. In 22 plate appearances during the Texas League post-season, Bernal was relatively quiet with a line of .200/.273/.300/.573, but he did drive in four important runs for the league champions.
Also of concern are his lefty-righty splits. After 2024 at Peoria during which he hit lefties and righties equally well, Bernal’s 2025 results were improved against left-handed pitchers (.848 OPS), but significantly down against right-handers (.688). Maybe there is an explanation, but the numbers are what they are.
Bernal’s full season stats are listed above. It was a good but not great 2025 offensively, though he did rank among system leaders in one category. Bernal’s 70 RBI led the Double-A Cardinals, a total that was fifth highest in the system.
Leonardo Bernal and Jason Isringhausen (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
In a major honor, Bernal was named the 2025 Gold Glove Award winner at catcher, which included all minor league players at every level. He was only the third Cardinal to receive the award since it was created in 2011. (The others are outfielder Victor Scott in 2023 and catcher Carson Kelly in 2015.)
In 2025, Bernal threw out 39.1% of attempted base stealers, nabbing 27 in 69 attempts. That is marked improvement over his good 34.5% result in 2024 and 28.2% career mark coming into the season.
In direct conflict, however, following the season, Baseball America unseated Bernal as the “Best Defensive Catcher” in the system, replacing him with Crooks.
Also, after the Gold Glove Award was announced, I polled a professional scout about Bernal’s defense.
“Has still a lot of work to do with his catching,” the evaluator said.
In November, as expected, the Cardinals placed Bernal on their 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
2026 outlook
His entire career, Bernal has been young for his leagues. That has opened the door for us to consistently project his future as being even better than his present. Bernal is still young, but he is now at the levels where he needs to produce, and as such, actual production must outweigh potential.
The defensive strides Bernal made during 2025 were important and frankly, a necessity to diminish some of the biggest concerns about his game. However, his offense was only slightly above Texas League average, with his 103 wRC+ the lowest of his four years in the US.
His Isolated Power (ISO) for the 2025 season with Springfield (.150) was almost identical to his mark at Peoria the year before (.146). So, there is more work to be done to unlock his power.
In a December 2025 article highlighting one potential breakout hitter per organization using underlying data, Baseball America noted that Bernal’s contact rate and exit velocities support the possibility that he has more power than he showed in “his solid, but unspectacular” 2025.
The points Kyle made about the unique demands placed on a catcher are real and help keep this in perspective. Still, I can’t avoid another direct comparison. Crooks tore up Texas League pitching the year prior, with a 154 wRC+ and .178 ISO before his just-above-league average showing at Triple-A the next season.
Just as Crooks may need more time at Memphis before being fully ready for the majors, perhaps Bernal’s bat would benefit from more time with Springfield.
This also greatly depends on what the Cardinals do with the catching position. They currently have five catchers on the 40-man roster plus two organizational types assigned to Memphis. If Herrera proves he can catch in the majors, the sheer numbers suggest the odds of Crooks staying with St. Louis drop.
Continuing with the dominos, the more likely Crooks returns to Memphis, the more likely Bernal is not initially promoted there. Having said that, it is not untenable for the two to be rostered on the same team and share the load. It is just that to this point in their careers, the organization has avoided it.
When all is said and done, I expect Bernal to play the majority of 2026 at Triple-A, building his experience base and starting to unlock some of his latent power.
Future outlook
Future Value: 45
Role: Platoon Player
Risk: Moderate
Kyle did a great job of outlining the range of future outcomes for Bernal, from a starting big-league catcher to a multi-season reserve. But we still don’t yet know if he can realize his full “potential”.
Of course, every prospect has more work to do, and Bernal is clearly on the right track. He has three more minor league option seasons ahead for the Cardinals to continue his development so there is no current pressure to unreasonably push him.
I will assume 2026 will be about Bernal’s further minor league growth with his St. Louis debut sometime in 2027. Perhaps by then, the Cardinals will sort out their catchers and decide which are keepers. Bernal should be among this latter group.
MLB debut: 2027 Minor league options remaining: 3
Our 2026 Top 50 series continues
To see the entire list of top Cardinals prospects, grading scales and remaining article schedule, click here. This includes the Top 50 countdown and 10 in-depth, follow-up articles breaking down the list.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider joining The Cardinal Nation to receive the most comprehensive coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals from the majors through the entire minor league system, including access to every article in our 2026 Top Cardinals Prospects series.
The Cardinal Nation’s Brian Walton is joined by analyst Kyle Reis for a weekly discussion of St. Louis Cardinals news, with a focus on player development and the minor leagues.
Our podcasts are quick hitting and timely, covering a short list of current topics in approximately 30 minutes. More information on everything we discuss can be found in articles here at The Cardinal Nation.
Happy New Year’s Eve!
Brian and Kyle conclude 2025 with varying views on pitchers ranked around our Top 10 St. Louis Cardinals prospects – Hence, Hjerpe, Roby and Henderson – after touching on the Nolan Arenado trade market. They also discuss Joshua Baez as an example of the prospect impact of the impending labor strife and close with the Top 10 Cardinals Stories of the Year as published at The Cardinal Nation.
All video of episodes of the return of Wednesday With Walton at The Cardinal Nation can be found here.
The video and audio are also simulcast each week via your favorite podcast apps: Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts IHeartRadio and YouTube. Subscription details are here.
The Cardinal Nation Prospect Guide is back for its eighth year. It includes 256 pages of in-depth commentary about the very best St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers, including dozens of all-new player scouting reports. Order your PDF or spiral-bound printed book copy today, with the latter on closeout for 20% off!
All paid members can purchase our Prospect Guide PDF at 50% off. Thank you for your support of The Cardinal Nation!
Subscribe to The Cardinal Nation for the most comprehensive coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals from the majors through the entire minor league system.
Check out Kyle’s work at Birds on the Black and his very popular Prospects After Dark interactive podcasts. He is also one of the most informative and entertaining Cardinals related social media follows at @kyler416.
Sixth in The Cardinal Nation’s 2026 Top 50 prospect countdown is a newly acquired left-hander whose stuff has Kyle Reis remembering Alex Reyes. But Reyes was also plagued by injuries. How high should expectations for Brandon Clarke be?
This content is for paid members only. Join The Cardinal Nation today! Register
The Cardinal Nation’s 2026 Top 50 countdown reaches no. 7 with one of the three catchers among the Cardinals’ Top 7 prospects. How does 2024 Minor League Player of the Year Jimmy Crooks build on his rough September debut with St. Louis?
This content is for paid members only. Join The Cardinal Nation today! Register
At no. 8 on The Cardinal Nation’s 2026 Top 50 prospect countdown is a true breakout player at Double-A in 2025. Joshua Baez has earned a 40-man roster spot, but when will the right-handed hitting outfielder be ready for St. Louis?
This content is for paid members only. Join The Cardinal Nation today! Register
Ninth in The Cardinal Nation’s 2026 Top 50 prospect countdown is an oft-injured left-hander who missed 2025 due to Tommy John surgery. When will Cooper Hjerpe return, how will be pitch, and has his ceiling changed?
This content is for paid members only. Join The Cardinal Nation today! Register
In a FREE article, The Cardinal Nation’s Top 50 prospect countdown for 2026 reaches no. 10 with long time top prospect who hasn’t stayed healthy long enough to reach Triple-A. Is it finally time to move Tink Hence to relief?
Position: Starting pitcher
Age: 23 years old
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6’1, 195 pounds
Acquired: Selected in Competitive Balance Round B, 63rd overall, of the 2020 First-Year Player Draft
Hometown: Pine Bluff, Arkansas
College: none
Opened 2025: Memphis Redbirds injured list (Triple-A)
Primary team in 2025: Springfield Cardinals (Double-A)
Finished 2025: Springfield Cardinals injured list (Double-A)
All that I can promise the reader is that I am 100% honest with my assessments of prospects. Even though I often seem flippant, I’m doing it intentionally and for effect.
With that warning, I am absolutely exhausted at the thought of having to write about Markevian “Tink” Hence again. I feel like I’ve been writing about him since he was in high school. Well, that’s because I have been, and that’s too long.
If I’m doing the math correctly, this is the sixth time that I’ve had to write about Hence on a top prospect list to start a season. Maybe funny enough, maybe sadly enough, maybe enough is enough, things have hardly changed over those six years. 2025 was another season shortened by arm and body issues. There were times that he looked like an elite pitching prospect. He started to throw more innings. Etc. Etc. Etc. Rinse. Lather. Repeat.
The only real difference in Hence’s 2025 season is that the new pitching brass decided to spend some time, starting before spring training, trying to rebuild Hence from the ground up hoping for more long-term arm health. That didn’t work. Hence didn’t even make it out of spring before suffering a lat strain, then a shoulder impingement later in the year. The other cause is the mechanical changes that the Cardinals tried to make with him which ruined his fastball shape and effectiveness. So that stinks, not just because it hurts his fastball but also because it hurts what the rest of his arsenal does off his fastball.
So, six years in and Hence is more of a project than ever before. Hooray. There’s also been talk about shifting him into a reliever role for the long-term. Whatever. Who cares. Not with that fastball even with velocity, but we’ll see. They’re also continuing to tweak his mechanics, so that’s… cool.
It’s a shame that this is happening to this young man. It’s crazy to think that he is just one full season removed from his best season as a member of the organization, 2024. When Hence was healthy and on the mound, he was a high-velocity, multiple above-average-to-plus off-speed offerings strikeout machine at Double-A.
One of the results from the mechanical adjustments made during 2025 was that Hence lost feel for his changeup, which had consistently been his best off-speed offering. In 2024, he used the changeup as a haymaker to both lefties and righties, and it played beautifully off his often high-90’s but usually mid-90’s fastball.
Tink Hence (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
The other big question about Hence’s arsenal is what became of his curveball. Like with his changeup, the curveball was a strikeout, swing and miss, and chase pitch, but the results and shape backed off in 2025. Again, there are a lot of moving parts as the Cardinals and Hence toy with his mechanics and the shape of his pitches. If the group can get Hence back to some of his 2024 majesty with the curve and changeup, then we’ll be back to cooking with plutonium.
The one positive that came from Hence’s work with the new pitching development brass is that he’s developed a gyro slider that may be a bigger and better part of his arsenal moving forward. Over the years, I’ve been all kinds of mixed up about how to feel about the slider that Hence would flash here and there. Thankfully, his new 2025 slider was the best slider that he’s thrown consistently, and with more velocity. It’s nice that there’s some positivity out of what became another lost season.
My initial plan for writing about Tink Hence was to say, “I’m tired of doing this, here’s Blake Newberry’s write-up from last year because it’s basically the same a year later”. I’m glad that I didn’t, because it’s certainly more complex than that.
The gist with Hence is simple, even if the steps to get him there are going to be nuanced and complex. The Cardinals and Hence are working to rebuild him for long-term health, and if they can get there while rediscovering some of the pitching magic from past seasons then we’ll finally see this supremely talented righty dealing at the Major League level. As is, he’s still as much a work in progress as he’s ever been, but he still flashes enough of his prior magic to keep one excited and hopeful.
And with that, I *THINK* that my whining is over for the Top 50 list! We did it!
Brian Walton’s environmental impact report
Brian’s ranking – no. 8
Background
Entering the COVID-reduced 2020 Draft, then-17-year-old Hence was ranked as the no. 84 draft prospect by MLB Pipeline and no. 123 by Baseball America. The Cardinals did not risk the chance that Hence would make it to the third round, so they used their extra pick, at 63rd overall.
Following the second round, the Cardinals took the University of Arkansas commit with their Competitive Balance B selection. The pool amount for Hence’s selection was $1,076,300 and he received $1,115,000, slightly less than $40,000 over slot.
That 63rd pick was acquired from Tampa Bay along with the 37th overall pick in the trade that also sent prospect pitcher Matthew Liberatore to St. Louis.
In his 2021 debut, the right-hander threw just eight innings in the Florida Complex League, six of which were single-inning outings, allowing eight earned runs. He had an elite strikeout rate of 15.75 per nine innings, but was hittable, with a .306 batting average against and a 1.75 WHIP.
Even during that limited introduction, Hence sat out multiple times including three weeks at one point and he did not pitch after August 18.
Coming out of spring training 2022, Hence did not make Low-A Palm Beach, instead assigned to extended spring training camp. His season debut did not occur with the Beach Birds until May 19.
By July, Hence was named The Cardinal Nation’s Pitcher of the Month. Despite the continued success, he was not allowed to go more than three innings until mid-July and no more than four innings all season. The right-hander remained at Palm Beach for the entire schedule.
Summarizing Hence’s 2022, he was the Cardinals system ERA champion at 1.38, but it was compiled in just 52 1/3 innings. No other qualifier had an ERA lower than 2.65. He was “only” second in strikeout rate at 13.9 per nine and strikeout to walk ratio at 5.4.
Following the season, Hence was recognized by the Florida State League as a Post-Season All-Star, the League’s Pitcher of the Year and perhaps most notably, the FSL’s Prospect of the Year.
Hence’s 2022 continued with a high visibility assignment to the Arizona Fall League. It was no surprise that he was selected to the AFL Fall Stars Game. Working in relief, Hence dominated in the top prospect league, throwing one inning at a time about once per week. In just 8 1/3 relief frames, he recorded a 2.16 ERA. He fanned nine and crafted a 0.96 WHIP.
During the 2022 season, Hence made his first appearance on national top 100 rankings, placing in the 90s in summer updates from Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. Following the season, BA named Hence’s fastball as the best in the system and his pitch metrics were seventh-best among their Top 100. Heading into 2023, Hence ranged from no. 43 to no. 77 in the country according to eight national ranking concerns.
Hence was less decorated in 2023, but his career continued to progress, albeit still slowly. First, he received his first non-roster big-league spring training camp invitation.
As expected, Hence opened the 2023 regular season in the rotation of High-A Peoria, but less than two weeks later, he went on the injured list with an intercostal muscle strain. He sat out almost a month. At the end of June, he was named the Cardinals organization co-Pitcher of the Month.
That strong June led to his July 1 promotion to Springfield. Hence finished his time with the Chiefs with a 2.81 ERA with 46 strikeouts in 41 2/3 innings. A week later, Hence represented the Cardinals in the 2023 All-Star Futures Game in Seattle.
In Double-A, Hence started weekly for the remainder of the season. Over his 12 starts with Springfield, Hence had a 5.47 ERA/4.98 FIP. His peripheral trends were not great, as his strikeout rate was a career low 8.8 per nine innings and his walk rate was a career high 3.6.
For the second consecutive year, Hence was recognized as having the Best Fastball in the Cardinals system, per Baseball America.
Tink Hence (Springfield Cardinals)
To open 2024, his age 21-22 season, Hence received his second St. Louis spring camp invitation. He started the first Prospect Showcase Game and stood out with three strikeouts in two scoreless innings.
Given his uneven Springfield introduction, returning to Double-A to open 2024 was reasonable. Fate again caused him to remain in the Texas League all season.
The slight-of-build right-hander started strongly, then slowly came back after missing most of June and July. His 20 starts in total yielded just 79 2/3 mound innings, but the results were good enough for Hence to be named a Texas League All-Star and the Double-A circuit’s Pitcher of the Year. He was also The Cardinal Nation’s Springfield Starting Pitcher of the Year.
With the qualification bar lowered to 60 innings, Hence finished fourth in the system in ERA (2.71), second in the system in FIP (2.51) and xFIP (2.62), fifth in WHIP (1.07), fourth in strikeout rate (34.1%) and fourth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (25.9%). Hence’s K/9 was an exceptional 12.3, and Texas League batters were held to an average of just .204.
Though he was never placed on the injured list, Hence disappeared from action for several long periods. In the middle of the season, he battled through injuries that were either cramping and weakness in his back and side or tightness and pain in his upper chest/shoulder region. An MRI reportedly indicated nothing serious.
The result was just 4 ⅔ innings total thrown during June and July. In all three starts, he was pulled early due to apparent discomfort.
Oddly, the Cardinals selected him for his second consecutive Futures Game in mid-July. But since he was not throwing in game action for Springfield at the time, he did not play in the Arlington, Texas contest.
In August, Hence basically had to start over rebuilding his pitch count. In his final seven starts of the season, he tossed just 23 1/3 frames, with an exceptional 1.54 ERA, but he averaged only 3 1/3 innings per start.
On September 11, Hence left what turned out to be his final 2024 start after just 29 pitches in 1 1/3 innings, again due to some kind of discomfort. Hence did not pitch again in the final days of the regular season or in the Texas League playoffs.
In their pre-2025 rankings, Baseball America rated Hence as having the “Best Fastball” and “Best Slider” in the Cardinals system. The former was his third consecutive nod.
It was a no-brainer for the Cardinals to add Hence to the 40-man roster in November to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. In an unusual move, the Cardinals promoted him to Memphis during the offseason.
2025 recap
Hence was invited to St. Louis’ camp as a member of the 40-man roster for the first time. In two outings totaling 1 2/3 innings, he was bombed for seven runs, six earned. On March 7, he was one of the first cuts.
On March 10 on the back fields, Hence departed after one inning of his scheduled three-inning outing. A Cardinals official told me the starter was “under the weather”. That was interesting as he did not pitch again in a game for over two months. That was confirmed by his subsequent placement on Memphis’ 60-day IL with what was later said to be a right ribcage strain.
On May 21, Hence made his 2025 debut in a one inning rehab outing with Palm Beach. From there, he toggled between the Beach Birds and the Florida Complex League, then an outing with Peoria. When Hence was activated on June 17, the Cardinals removed him from the Memphis roster and reassigned him to Springfield.
In his first week back, Hence flashed his greatness again, named Texas League Pitcher of the Week after throwing four no-hit innings with one walk and eight strikeouts.
However, the honeymoon was soon over as Hence didn’t last a month on Springfield’s active roster. On July 12, he returned to Springfield’s injured list with what was reported to be a shoulder impingement.
You can see his full-season stats above, which include his five rehab outings. For Springfield, Hence threw just 10 2/3 innings over three starts. Two appearances were scoreless but he was knocked around for five runs in 3 1/3 innings in the other. His Double-A ERA was 4.22.
Hence was the only Cardinals minor leaguer to pitch at four different levels last season. If you count his paper time on Memphis’ IL, he was with all five US affiliates during 2025. That is unusual, but far from ideal.
According to Baseball America, Hence was replaced as having the Best Fastball and Slider in the system by 2025 draft picks Liam Doyle and Tanner Franklin.
After ranking in the pre-season Top 100 prospect rankings from every major national outlet, by the end of the season, Hence fell off the lists of BA and MLB Pipeline.
2026/Future outlook
Future Value: 45
Role: 4/5 starter/low set up
Risk: High
I am combining the normally separate 2026 Outlook and Future Outlook sections into one because I (still) firmly believe the time is now for Hence.
To recap, he was drafted five and a half years ago, with fellow high schoolers Jordan Walker and Masyn Winn. Hence pitched in the Arizona Fall League in 2022 and was named to the Futures Game back in 2023 and 2024. He has been at Double-A for 2 ½ years. His major successes are in the rearview mirror while others pass him and he drops in everyone’s prospect rankings.
As the 2026 season opens, Hence will still yet to have thrown his first pitch for Memphis, let alone St. Louis.
So, how can the idea of Hence starting in the majors be anything but high risk?
His upside also remains high, but not as high as it used to be. Simply put, how could Hence ever throw 100-plus pitches every fifth day and log 150 to 180 innings in a season as expected from a top of the rotation starter on the game’s biggest stage when he has never reached 100 pitches or innings in five years of trying in the minors?
The time is past to do something different and maybe the Cardinals are finally realizing it.
At the Winter Meetings, Chaim Bloom said that the Cardinals had internal conversations about whether to move Hence from starting to relief, but he did not share if a decision was made.
Despite Hence’s track record warning me otherwise, I will once again be too optimistic and suggest that as a reliever, he might stay healthy and productive long enough to reach St. Louis in the second half of 2026.
The reality is that Hence is running out of time. 2027 will be his last allowable minor league option year. Maybe with a different approach, the Cardinals can still get something from the very talented pitcher.
MLB debut: 2026 Minor league options remaining: 2
Our 2025 Top 50 series continues
To see the entire list of top Cardinals prospects, grading scales and remaining article schedule, click here. This includes the Top 50 countdown and 10 in-depth, follow-up articles breaking down the list.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider joining The Cardinal Nation to receive the most comprehensive coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals from the majors through the entire minor league system, including access to every article in our 2026 Top Cardinals Prospects series.
Ranked 11th in The Cardinal Nation’s 2026 Top 50 prospect countdown is an oft-injured right-hander who had a breakout first half before Tommy John surgery. How long will it take Tekoah Roby to ramp back up and when will it begin?
This content is for paid members only. Join The Cardinal Nation today! Register
Brian will provide background on each prospect, his progress in the organization, where he fits against others and his outlook for the coming season and beyond.
To follow the countdown, you can either read each new story when posted on our home page every morning or click on the individual players’ names, which will be listed below as they are unveiled. You can also return to this page daily to check the progress in our Top 50 countdown.
Now 20% off – 2025 Cardinals Prospect Guide 
TCN 2026 St. Louis Cardinals Prospect #19a – Tai Peete
In summary, the Giants capitalized on four bad seasons with four great drafts.
Now available – 2026 Cardinals Prospect Guide 
