Life After Wetherholt Reshapes the Cardinals Prospect Rankings
The Cardinal Chronicle
Life After Wetherholt Reshapes the Cardinals Rankings
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur
Prospect lists change for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes a player forces his way up with performance. Sometimes injuries slow the climb. Sometimes the big-league club answers the question for everyone.
That is where the Cardinals’ system sits now.
With JJ Wetherholt graduating from prospect status, the top of the St. Louis farm system has a different look. The spotlight has shifted, and the next wave is moving into clearer focus. Joshua Báez, Rainiel Rodriguez and Liam Doyle now stand near the front of that conversation, while Leonardo Bernal, Jurrangelo Cijntje and Jimmy Crooks remain steady names in the upper tier. At the same time, injuries continue to cloud the outlook for several talented arms, including Tekoah Roby, Cooper Hjerpe and Tink Hence.
That is the nature of the prospect market. It moves even when nobody is playing. Promotions, injuries, rankings and opportunity all change the board.
This week, the Prospect Stock Market Report looks at the post-Wetherholt landscape — who is rising into greater prominence, who is holding steady, and which injured arms remain caught in the waiting room.
📈 Stock Rising
Joshua Báez, OF, Memphis
The Movement: Up.
Joshua Báez has not just moved up because of what he has done. He has moved up because of what the system now needs him to become.
With Wetherholt no longer part of the prospect rankings, Báez becomes one of the most important position-player names left on the board. The physical tools have never been the question. The power has always been real. The arm strength, athletic frame and right-handed impact potential remain the calling cards.
The question has always been whether Báez could turn tools into usable production. That is where his 2026 season has become more interesting. He has shown enough power to keep pushing toward the major league conversation, and in a system that needs upper-level bats with impact, that matters.
This is not a finished product. Báez still has to prove he can handle advanced pitching consistently. But the path is opening. When a top prospect graduates, the next group does not just inherit a ranking. It inherits responsibility.
Old School Take: Power still plays. Báez has the kind of strength you cannot teach. Now the job is simple — keep turning loud tools into loud results.
Rainiel Rodriguez, C, Springfield
The Movement: Up.
Rainiel Rodriguez remains one of the biggest stories in the Cardinals’ system.
The 19-year-old catcher has already earned a promotion from High-A Peoria to Double-A Springfield, and that alone says plenty. Catchers are usually brought along with caution. Teenage catchers are brought along with even more caution. When a 19-year-old catcher forces his way to Double-A, the organization is telling you the bat has pushed the timetable.
Rodriguez has done more than hold his own. He has shown power, plate discipline and offensive maturity beyond his age. He is not just a catching prospect with some upside. He is now one of the defining prospects in the system.
The most important part of this next stretch will be adjustment. Double-A has a way of finding holes quickly. Pitchers sequence better. Breaking balls are sharper. Mistakes come less often. Rodriguez does not have to dominate immediately, but if the approach holds, his stock will keep climbing.
Old School Take: A young catcher who can hit is baseball gold. A 19-year-old catcher already in Double-A is not just rising — he is changing the shape of the board.
Liam Doyle, LHP, Springfield
The Movement: Up.
Liam Doyle’s stock is rising again, though not because the season has been smooth.
It has not.
The early numbers have had turbulence, but Doyle’s most recent work gave the Cardinals something to build on. His five-inning start with two earned runs, no walks and eight strikeouts was exactly the kind of outing a young pitcher needs after an uneven beginning. It did not erase the rough spots, but it reminded everyone why the stuff remains so highly regarded.
Doyle still has the profile of a top pitching prospect. The fastball plays. The strikeout ability is real. The challenge now is command, efficiency and repeating quality starts. That is the difference between flashing top-end stuff and becoming a dependable major league starter.
With Wetherholt graduated, Doyle is no longer just one of the names behind the headline prospect. He is one of the headline prospects.
Old School Take: First-round arms do not get easy grading. Doyle still has work to do, but eight strikeouts with no walks is the kind of marker you do not ignore.
⏸️ Stock Holding
Leonardo Bernal, C, Springfield
The Movement: Holding.
Leonardo Bernal remains steady, and sometimes steady is exactly what a prospect needs to be.
The presence of Rodriguez changes the conversation at catcher, but it does not erase Bernal’s value. Bernal has been on the radar for a while because of his switch-hitting ability, defensive development and overall catching profile. He may not have the same sudden helium Rodriguez has created, but he remains one of the better catching prospects in the system.
The Cardinals have something most organizations would like to have: multiple catchers worth tracking closely. That can create a crowded conversation, but it is not a problem. It is depth.
Bernal’s stock holds because the skill set still matters. He does not need to win the week. He needs to keep improving behind the plate, keep producing enough offensively, and keep reminding the organization that catching depth is built one steady step at a time.
Old School Take: Not every prospect has to be the hot name. Bernal remains a real catcher with real value, and that is worth holding.
Jurrangelo Cijntje, SHP, Springfield
The Movement: Holding.
Jurrangelo Cijntje is still one of the most fascinating prospects in baseball, never mind just the Cardinals’ system.
A switch-pitcher at Double-A is always going to draw attention. The novelty gets people to look. The performance will determine how long they keep watching. Cijntje’s season has had some uneven stretches, but the strikeout ability remains part of the case.
That is why he stays in the holding group this week. He is not pushing the board upward right now, but he is not slipping out of the conversation either. The talent is too unique, the arm strength is too real, and the developmental path is too unusual to judge like a standard pitching prospect.
Cijntje’s next step is simple to describe and hard to execute: fewer baserunners, better command, cleaner innings. If that happens, the stock can climb again quickly.
Old School Take: The switch-pitching story opens the door. Run prevention keeps it open. For now, Cijntje holds.
Jimmy Crooks, C/DH, Memphis
The Movement: Holding.
Jimmy Crooks has done enough at Triple-A to remain firmly in the conversation.
Crooks brings a different profile than Rodriguez or Bernal. He is older, closer to the majors and already being tested at the highest level of the minor leagues. His value comes from power, maturity and the ability to help a lineup from a premium position, even when he is used at designated hitter.
He recently earned The Cardinal Chronicle’s Minor League Player of the Week honors after homering twice during the May 4-11 reporting window. That kind of production matters, especially at Triple-A.
Still, this is a holding grade because Crooks is not just being judged on a good week. At this stage, the question is whether he can keep producing enough to force his way into a future big-league role. He is close enough to matter, but he still has to keep pushing.
Old School Take: Triple-A production is not window dressing. Crooks is holding because he remains useful, close and dangerous when he gets a pitch he can handle.
📉 Stock Falling / Injury Watch
Tekoah Roby, RHP
The Movement: Down, injury-related.
Tekoah Roby’s stock is not falling because the talent disappeared. It is falling because the innings have.
That is the hard truth with pitching prospects. Ability matters, but availability matters just as much. Roby has had the kind of arm talent that keeps evaluators interested, but injuries have interrupted the development path too often. For a pitcher trying to build toward a major league role, missed innings become missed education.
This is not the same as writing him off. Roby still has enough stuff to matter if he gets healthy and starts stacking innings again. But the prospect market has little patience for pitchers who are not on the mound.
Old School Take: You cannot develop from the trainer’s room. Roby still has talent, but the stock cannot climb until the innings return.
Cooper Hjerpe, LHP
The Movement: Down, injury-related.
Cooper Hjerpe remains one of the more frustrating cases in the system because the look is so different when he is right.
His delivery, deception and left-handed profile give hitters a different problem to solve. But like Roby, the issue is availability. Hjerpe’s recovery from elbow surgery has slowed his momentum, and until he is back facing hitters consistently, his stock has to be treated with caution.
That does not mean the Cardinals should lose faith. Left-handed pitchers with deception and track record do not grow on trees. But the board moves, and injured arms often slide while healthier players keep adding evidence.
Old School Take: The talent is still there, but hope is not a development plan. Hjerpe needs health, innings and time.
Tink Hence, RHP
The Movement: Down, injury-related.
Tink Hence may be the toughest name on this list.
For several years, he was one of the most exciting arms in the Cardinals’ system. The fastball, the athleticism and the upside all pointed toward something special. But injuries and durability concerns have changed the conversation.
The question is no longer just how good Hence can be. It is what role his body will allow him to handle. Starter? Multi-inning weapon? Late-inning arm? The answer may still be coming, but the uncertainty has become part of the evaluation.
There is still talent here. Plenty of it. But the longer a pitching prospect is slowed by health concerns, the more the market discounts the dream.
Old School Take: Hence still has the arm that made people believe. But belief has to meet innings eventually. Until then, the stock is down.
Final Board
📈 Stock Rising: Joshua Báez, Rainiel Rodriguez, Liam Doyle.
⏸️ Stock Holding: Leonardo Bernal, Jurrangelo Cijntje, Jimmy Crooks.
📉 Stock Falling / Injury Watch: Tekoah Roby, Cooper Hjerpe, Tink Hence.
The Cardinals’ system looks different now than it did a month ago. Wetherholt has moved on to the major league story. Rodriguez has become the young headliner. Báez has a larger opportunity. Doyle remains the top arm trying to steady his climb. And behind them, the catching depth and pitching questions continue to shape the board.
That is the prospect market in May. Some players rise because they force the issue. Some hold because the skill set still matters. Others fall because the game has a hard rule that never changes.
You have to be on the field to keep climbing.
The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports
Preserving the Past, Promoting the Present, and Projecting the Future.