Twelve at-bats, one hit, and then the IL
St. Louis placed JJ Wetherholt on the 10-day injured list a couple of hours ago with right wrist tendinitis. Cesar Prieto comes up from Triple-A Memphis to take the roster spot.
The numbers behind the move had been building for a week. Wetherholt went 0-for-4 in Saturday’s 6-2 loss to Pittsburgh and has managed a single hit across his last 12 at-bats. Tendinitis in the lead wrist tends to announce itself that way for a left-handed hitter. Contact holds up for a while, then the barrel stops finishing through the zone.
Try it for $0.99.
A 112.5 million dollar rookie
The timing carries more weight than a routine 10-day absence would. The Cardinals signed Wetherholt to an eight-year, $112.5 million extension in July, an unusual bet on a 23-year-old still inside his first full season in the majors. They took him seventh overall in the 2024 draft out of West Virginia and have pushed him quickly ever since. He was named MVP of the Double-A Texas League last year on the strength of 62 games for Springfield, a line that says as much about the quality of the sample as its size.
The rookie season reads .242 with 17 home runs and 48 RBIs in 130 games. The average is ordinary. The power is not, and it is the reason the extension exists.
Prieto gets the door held open
Prieto, 27, returns after a first stint that produced two hits in 31 at-bats. Memphis tells a different story: .308 with 12 home runs and 43 RBIs in 79 games. Those are Triple-A numbers rather than a promise, but St. Louis needs an infielder who can hold a lineup spot for a week and a half without dragging the offense backwards.
Ten days is the floor, not the ceiling. Wrist tendinitis either quiets down with rest or follows a hitter deep into the season, and the Cardinals have the final month of the schedule to learn which version they are dealing with.
Discover the rest of our MLB news on MathODDS!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply