Cardinals Phenom Pushing For Late-Season MLB Debut

The St. Louis Cardinals have had a tough go of it lately and now are back under .500.

St. Louis has a 55-56 record and just sold off three important hurlers to the bullpen in Ryan Helsley, Steven Matz, and Phil Maton. So, what comes next for the Cardinals? The new-look Cardinals took on the San Diego Padres on Friday and lost to drop back below .500. Earlier in the afternoon, the Cardinals also announced Nolan Arenado is heading to the Injured List and Nolan Gorman was coming back up to help replace him.

All in all, the club seems to be at a crossroads. The odds of a playoff spot aren't high, but the club still has most of the talent that had them in the playoff hunt about a month or so ago. If things continue to go poorly, though, it wouldn't hurt to go more into a youth movement. The idea of a "runway" for young guys like Gorman and Jordan Walker has been talked about all season.

Walker has looked like a star recently and we're about to see Gorman with a bigger opportunity. If the Cardinals struggled, it would be nice to inject some excitement and take a look ahead with No. 1 prospect JJ Wetherholt later on this season.

Wetherholt is thriving with the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds right now. In 15 games, he's slashing .321/.412/.714 with five homers and nine RBIs. This isn't to say he should come up tomorrow. He's young and was drafted during the 2024 MLB Draft. But, he's someone who can help out next year. Because of that, the Cardinals -- if they aren't in the playoff mix -- should give him a shot, potentially in September, to get his feet wet in the big leagues.