ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

JUPITER, Fla. — The young fella from Mars didn’t seem terribly out of place in Cardinals camp this spring. Of course, that’s Mars, Pennsylvania, a small community of fewer than 1,500 residents roughly 30 minutes north of PNC Park in Pittsburgh. And the young fella who’s the latest and greatest local sports standout from Mars? Well, that’s Cardinals top prospect JJ Wetherholt.

The No. 7 overall pick in last summer’s MLB Draft, Wetherholt attended big-league spring training camp as a non-roster invitee — a jump-start to his first full season in professional baseball. He remained with the big club until Wednesday, when the Cardinals assigned him to minor-league camp.

A 5-foot-10, 190-pound left-handed hitting shortstop, Wetherholt showed no signs of being a fish out of water despite being thrust into a high-profile and new environment while wearing the label of “top prospect� less than 10 months removed from his final college game.

You don’t have to spend very much time talking to Wetherholt, 22, before you realize he possesses a big-league level of calmness and maturity.

The , Wetherholt earned a First Team All-Big 12 selection in 2024 despite a hamstring injury that limited him to 36 games.

Then the Cardinals selected him seventh overall in the draft, sent him to Single-A Palm Beach where he started his minor-league career with a slash line of .295/.405/.400 in 29 games, Baseball America and both named him the Cardinals top prospect (each also have him among their Top 25 prospects in the minors) and he garnered that invitation to big-league camp. Even with all of that, his maturity remains evident.

Or perhaps it hasn’t been as much of a whirlwind this past year as it seemed?

“It has,� Wetherholt said, “But the biggest thing that stays consistent is just the people in my corner. My family, my agent who has been with me for a while, my coaches back at college and the coaches here — that good group of guys, my friends and my teammates. That’s what’s been the most consistent, those people that are just rooting for me.

“So you can put your faith in them and know that no matter how things go down, they’re going to be with you. Then on the baseball side of things, there’s just really good players at every level. That’s been really cool to see, just the competition.�

The young man from the small Pennsylvania community said he uses his tight-knit group of family, friends and supporters to keep him “grounded,� and it also provides motivation to perform.

With that backdrop, it begins to become clear how he managed to take such a big-picture view of his first big-league camp.

Maturity has quickly become one of Wetherholt’s calling cards.

Cardinals hitting and outfield instructor/special adviser Ryan Ludwick spent parts of 12 seasons in the majors.

The first two words out of Ludwick’s mouth when asked about Wetherholt were “barrel control.� Then Ludwick landed on maturity as an overarching theme as he described the first impression Wetherholt left on him.

“I’ve been very fortunate to see some of these guys come up after they’ve been drafted or see their first live (batting practice session) or the first time they put on a Cardinals uniform,� Ludwick said. “I’ll never forget, on Field 6, when he took his first batting practice.

“You look at professional hitters and the way they take a batting practice — his first five swings were line drives off the left-center field wall. That showed maturity right there. A lot of young guys will want to come out and step on the gas pedal right away and see how far they can launch the ball. Just his Baseball IQ, his self-awareness to be able to come out and stay composed and stay within himself and show the reason he was drafted that high (stands out).�

Cardinals manager Oli Marmol said he was “highly impressed� by Wetherholt. It wasn’t any one physical trait or skillset of Wetherholt’s that left that imprint on Marmol’s mind. Marmol wanted to get a sense for how Wetherholt handled things.

How did Wetherholt comport himself?

“To this point, he’s a pro,� Marmol said before Wetherholt left big-league camp. “It is a nice trait when you are young and you are comfortable in your own skin, and he knows what he brings to the table. He’s confident with it. He is completely comfortable with what he does not know. That’s also good for a young guy, to be comfortable to ask questions.�

Wetherholt’s statistics won’t jump out at anyone. He didn’t light the Grapefruit League ablaze the way Jordan Walker and Masyn Winn did a couple years ago.

Wetherholt appeared in 10 spring training games, went 2 for 20 (a .100 batting average). He swatted one home run, walked more times (six) than he struck out (five) and stole three bases.

Wetherholt said he understands that this time around, his experience with the big club in spring training was just that — an experience. He also said that made it a bit easier to deal with stretches when things weren’t going great because, “It’s about the process and not the results.�

“I was there to learn and to get better and to prepare for a long season, and to hopefully be in a good spot when the season came,� Wetherholt said. “So I knew that the goal of my (spring) this year was to not to go and have an insane big-league camp.

“Of course, I wanted to perform at the highest of my abilities. In hindsight, the goal was to prepare myself for a season and put myself in a good spot.�

That’s a very thoughtful and mature view.

Oh, by the way, Wetherholt also said he wants to be competing for a roster spot the next time he’s in big-league camp.