By Rob Rains
It was almost exactly two years ago when JJ Wetherholt found out he was going to be a Cardinals, selected in the first round of the 2024 amateur draft.
On Friday, it was announced that he is going to remain a Cardinal for a long time.
The team and Wetherholt reached agreement on an eight-year contract extension, worth a reported $112 million, that will keep him with the Cardinals through the 2034 season.
“I want to be in the same spot,” he said. “That’s just how I am. I’m from a small town (Mars, Pa.) I went to college an hour outside of that (West Virginia) and wanted to stay there as long as possible.
“It’s the same here. I knew when I got drafted I knew that I wanted to be here for as long as possible. This is a step in that direction.”
Wetherholt went into Friday night’s game hitting .267 with 13 home runs, 36 RBIs and nine stolen bases, establishing himself as the odds-on favorite to be the NL Rookie of the Year. Just 23, has been the Cardinals’ leadoff hitter since opening day.
“This is just the beginning for me,” Wetherholt said. “It’s been so, so exciting to continue to work and get the opportunity I have … I’ve always been the kind of guy who wants to respect and do well to those who do well to me and for them to take that step towards me means a lot.
“One of the things Chaim (Bloom) and I talked about was just continuing to be myself. I’m going to go about my work every single day. This won’t change that, just continue to try to get better every day … I’ve got so much to learn.”
Bloom said it made perfect sense to make the long commitment to Wetherholt despite the fact he was playing his 88th game in the major leagues on Friday night.
He said the two sides had actually been talking about an extension on and off since spring training.
“I think his play speaks for itself,” said Bloom, the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations. “What you might not get to see as much is who he is, how he works, how he prepares, how he learns, how much he wants to be great, how much he cares about winning. All of that is great. He checks all of those boxes.
“Here’s something that I think I know, which is when this is done (the press conference) JJ is going to go back in there (the locker room) and he is going to treat everybody with respect, and he’s going to do everything that he needs to do in the training room, the weight room, the video room, in the cage, to get ready to try to beat the opposition tonight. Tomorrow the same guy is going to walk in the door and do the same thing.
“We trust him. That’s as much as everything you see on the field, that’s in my view why we are sitting here.”
Wetherholt becomes the first Cardinal to be under contract for next season, although the team does hold options for 2027 on the contracts of pitchers Dustin May and Ryne Stanek and infielder Ramon Urias, who currently is on the injured list.
Bill DeWitt III, promoted a few weeks ago to be the CEO of the Cardinals, indicated that more extensions for some of the team’s young players might be coming.
“It’s an important day for our long-term strategy of building a core,” DeWitt said. “JJ is one of the keys to that group. Locking him up for this long period of time feels like one down, several more to go at some point.
“Hopefully it shows our fans that we are committed to this process.”
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JJ Wetherholt Signing Press Conference
Audio and second photo provided by David Solomon
