Young Cardinals showing maturity during surprising start

Supposedly, this was a rebuilding season for the St. Louis Cardinals — at the very least, a year to reset and lay a new foundation was expected.

Building on that outlook, Chaim Bloom spent last season doing a deep dive on the Cardinals’ player development system in advance of taking over for retired president of baseball operations John Mozeliak.

Cardinals had an offseason purge

Bloom then traded four significant veterans during his first offseason. He shipped right-hander Sonny Gray and first baseman Willson Contreras to the Boston Red Sox in separate deals, sent second baseman Brendan Donovan to the Seattle Mariners and third baseman Nolan Arenado to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Given all the roster changes, it was no surprise. The Cardinals were almost universally picked to finish in last place in the National League Central by preseason prognosticators. Matching last season’s 78-84 record seemed unlikely for the 2026 Cardinals, at the very least.

Young Cardinals surprising

However, through one month of the season, the Cardinals are proving people wrong. After sweeping a four-game road series from the Pittsburgh Pirates that ended Thursday, they now stand at 18-13.

This strong start is even more impressive given that all nine Cardinals regulars are 27 or younger. Pleased with his players’ steady effort — a quality not always seen in inexperienced teams — manager Oliver Marmol has praised their consistency.

“The one thing I’m assessing daily is the style of play, and that’s been as consistent as anyone could have imagined,” Marmol said. “They show up with the same demeanor and overall determination every day, and that’s the one thing you can control.

“We’ve had a lot of comeback wins. We’ve had some games where there has been a mistake that has allowed us to stay in the game, and then we capitalize on it and win. There have been games when we’ve given it up at the end and lost, but the guys are very consistent in how they show up the next day.”

Offensively, the Cardinals are seventh in the major leagues in runs scored, averaging 5.0 a game. That production helps offset a pitching staff — a potential fatal flaw for a team hoping to be a surprise contender. St. Louis’ 4.76 ERA ranks 26th in MLB.

Jordan Walker, JJ Wetherholt leading charge for Cardinals

Right fielder Jordan Walker has helped fuel the Cardinals’ success, seemingly on his way to a breakout season in his fourth year in the big leagues. The 24-year-old is hitting .284/.354/.552 with nine home runs and five stolen bases in 30 games.

Walker hit 16 homers as a rookie in 2023 but tailed off to five the next season and six in 2025. Marmol credits Walker’s success at least in part to a better rapport with the hitting coaches.

“It’s the work he’s put in and his ability to kind of have the back and forth of getting into a place where he can execute on what he’s being called to do,” Marmol said.

In addition to Walker, rookie second baseman JJ Wetherholt has provided a jolt from the leadoff spot less than two years after the Cardinals chose him in the first round of the amateur draft. In 31 games, Wetherholt has a .256/.378/.479 slash line, seven homers and four steals.

“He’s gone about his business as if he’s been here for several years, which is cool to see,” Marmol said. “That, his understanding of the game, and his hunger are a great combination. He’s confident enough of who he is as a person and a player, but never comfortable enough to not want to see what’s next.”

All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.