On January 16, the Cardinals announced their list of prospects headed to Spring Training in 2025. It’s a list that includes top pitching prospect Quinn Mathews, plus two of the team’s former first-round picks.
The Cardinals’ first-round pick from 2024, JJ Wetherholt, is arguably the most notable among the crop of 23 prospects headed to big league camp. Last season with Palm Beach (A), Wetherholt hit .295/.405/.400 (.805) with two home runs, seven extra-base hits, and 20 RBI.
The 22-year-old could move up quickly up the organizational ladder. Wetherholt led the NCAA in batting average (.449) as a sophomore in 2023, making him a contender to be picked #1. However, injuries limited Wetherholt to only 36 games.
The other big hitter headed to Cardinals camp is Chase Davis, their 2023 first-round pick. Davis showed big-time pop in college, with 21 home runs with Arizona two years ago. He showed a good amount of gap power, hitting 42 extra-base hits over 112 games.
Last year, the 23-year-old made it to Double-A after hitting .301/.388/.451 with Peoria (A+).
The most notable pitcher is Quinn Mathews, who won the 2024 MiLB Pitcher of the Year award after he struck out 202 batters over 143.1 IP, across four levels.
Mathews is a five-pitch pitcher, with a two-seam, four-seam, slider, curveball, and changeup. He wasn’t a heavy velocity pitcher in Stanford. However, his velocity jumped up in 2024, capping out at 97 MMPH among tracked pitches. Not to mention, it maintained high induced vertical break (17.1”).
He ended 2024 in Triple-A and could be a option for the Cardinals at some point in 2025.
Aside from those three, the Cardinals invited Jimmy Crooks, Edwin Nunez, Bryan Torres, Gavin Collins, Wade Stauss, Drew Rom, Cooper Hjerpe, Leonardo Bernal, Ian Bedell, Andre Granillo, Nathan Church, Sammy Hernandez, Carlos Linarez, Michael Gomez, Max Rajcic, Cesar Prieto, and Jeremy Rivas to camp.
Catcher Chance Sisco, the former Oriole, was also invited.
Aside from the Cardinals, the Royals, Guardians, and Phillies also announced which prospects they’ll send to Spring Training.