Former West Virginia baseball star Victor Scott II has made the Opening Day roster for the St. Louis Cardinals, and will be in the starting lineup as the Cardinals host the Minnesota Twins on Thursday.
Katie Woo with The Athletic reported on Monday that Scott II would make the Opening Day roster and be the starting centerfielder. Scott II had a great spring training and has earned another chance with the Cardinals.
Victor Scott II will be the Opening Day center fielder. Matthew Liberatore is the fifth starter. Steven Matz will be in long relief. Cardinals will go a six-man rotation beginning April 16.
— Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) March 23, 2025
Vic is on 🔥 pic.twitter.com/BqdCwwQBug
— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) March 21, 2025
2025 will be the second season in Scott II’s young career that he will have made an opening day roster. The former Mountaineer was drafted in 2022 in the fifth round of the MLB Draft by St. Louis.
Last season did not go the way that Scott had hoped, and he will hope to bounce back stronger this spring. Scott played 53 games for St. Louis in 2024 and posted a .179 batting average with only nine hits and 10 RBIs on the season. Setting an important milestone, Scott did hit his first major league home run on August 6 last year and finished the season with two home runs, but it was overall not the most impressive season.
Scott II’s outstanding spring training performance earned him a spot in the starting roster once again, however. During 16 games of 2025 Spring Training, Scott II hit a great .349 batting average with four home runs, seven RBIs and slugged a .721 OPS.
Scott II appeared in a game with former Mountaineer teammate and WVU Baseball legend, JJ Wetherholt, on February 23. Scott II and Wetherholt spent one season (2022) in Morgantown and rejoined forces in that February game, as Scott II drove in his fellow former Mountaineer -- Wetherholt did not make the opening day roster for the Cardinals.
One thing that Scott II is going to have to improve to stay in the big leagues is his walk-to-strikeout ratio (BB/K). In his first professional season, the outfielder posted a not-so-great 0.14 BB/K ratio. The MLB league average for 2021 for BB/K was 0.39. To better increase his chances for success and staying on the Cardinals’ roster the entire season, Scott II needs to cut down on the strikeouts and develop a better approach to draw more walks and get on base more often.
Scott II will face another player with ties to The Mountain State on opening day, as the Twins have pitcher Randy Dobnak in the lineup -- Dobnak has no experience with WVU baseball, but spent his collegiate career at now-defunct Division 2 school Alderson Broaddus just an hour south of Morgantown.