It's Opening Day for several MLB Teams on Thursday, including the St. Louis Cardinals. And one former WVU baseball star will make his debut at the top level of professional baseball in a big way.
JJ Wetherholt, who was the seventh overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, has spent the first season and a half of his career at the minor league level, but was recently named to the Opening Day roster for the Cardinals after entering Spring Training as a Top 5 MLB prospect. Now, with the first pitch of the season scheduled for Thursday afternoon for the Cardinals, Wetherholt's massive role with the Cardinals has been revealed.
JJ Wetherholt in prominent role for massive Opening Day debut with St. Louis Cardinals
Wetherholt will start for the Cardinals on Thursday at second base, and will also serve as the lead-off for St. Louis as they host the Tampa Bay Rays in the first of a three-game series at Busch Stadium this weekend. He is the first rookie to make his MLB debut as the lead-off man for the Cardinals since 1949 and the first to do so on Opening Day since 1944.
JJ Wetherholt leads off (!) and starts at second base for the @Cardinals in his MLB debut today.
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) March 26, 2026
Here's what to expect: https://t.co/MzUhu4AFaO pic.twitter.com/zeNC2Qd1oL
The Cardinals named Wetherholt their 2025 Minor League Player of the Year for his effort at the Double-A and Triple-A levels, spending the summer on a dominant tour of the minor leagues.
He played in 109 games split between the two levels, Wetherholt slashed .306/.421/.510/.931 with 28 doubles, 17 homers and 59 RBIs. He also managed four lead-off home runs – an indicator of why the Cardinals may want him in that lead-off role – and recorded 23 stolen bases.
Wetherholt spent three seasons at the collegiate level with the Mountaineers, recording 206 hits, 129 RBIs, and 29 home runs during his tenure with the program. He will join former West Virginia teammate Victor Scott II in the Cardinals' starting rotation after being a prominent fixture in the line-up in recent season. Now, West Virginia and St. Louis fans can look forward to seeing both on the same team on the biggest stage in the sport.