February is here and spring training is just around the corner, which can mean only one thing around these parts: it’s time to rank minor-league prospects. Every team across the majors is selling hope to their fans: some are selling it in a more immediate fashion, in the form of active offseasons full of free-agent signings and trade acquisitions. Others, meanwhile, are selling it in the personage of prospects who could make the difference over the coming years.
CBS Sports continues examining the top three prospects in each organization. Our definition of “prospect” is simple: does that player have rookie eligibility remaining for the 2025 season? If so, they’re a prospect; if not, that’s probably why your favorite young player is absent from the proceedings.
As always, these lists are formed following conversations with scouts, analysts, player development specialists, and other talent evaluators around the industry. There’s a fair amount of firsthand evaluation, statistical analysis, and historical research mixed in, too. Plus a heaping of personal bias — we all have certain traits and profiles that we prefer over others, there’s no sense pretending otherwise.
Keep in mind that there’s no one right answer with these sorts of things. Besides, these are merely our opinions, meaning they have no actual bearing on the future. We already published our ranking of the top 25 prospects in all of the minors.
With all that out of the way, let’s get to ranking the top three prospects in the St. Louis Cardinals system.
Top 25 rank: No. 13
The short hook: Potential draft-night steal has a well-rounded game
Wetherholt slipped to the seventh pick last summer after missing half of the collegiate season because of a hamstring injury. In due time, he might reveal himself to be the best player in the class. Wetherholt has plenty working in his favor, beginning with appreciable feels for the barrel and the zone that have scouts throwing double-plus projections on his hit tool. He’s not likely to be a huge power threat, and he’s almost certain to move across the bag to second base before he reaches the majors. (Masyn Winn exists, after all.) Even so, Wetherholt has the makings of a quick-moving regular who inspires regret in at least a few of the teams that passed on him. MLB ETA: Spring 2026
The short hook: Lefty with plus stuff
Mathews has his velocity and therefore his stock since being drafted from Stanford as a senior in 2023. His fastball now sits in the mid-90s, with a combination of release height and induced vertical break that’s comparable to Pirates rookie Jared Jones. Mathews’ arsenal features four other pitches, including two above-average secondaries (changeup and slider) that generated at least 50% whiffs over the nine-game sample of ball-tracking available to us. Mathews has experienced some spells of wildness dating back to college. Provided he mostly keeps his control in check, he profiles as an above-average starter. MLB ETA: Early summer 2025
The short hook: Same old, same old
Hence has a starter’s arsenal, complete with a rising fastball and two good secondaries, but it’s anyone’s guess if he’ll be able to shoulder a starter’s workload at the big-league level. The Cardinals have approached his development using the crockpot method. As a result, he’s logged just 236 regular season innings over four years, including 79 frames over his 20 starts in 2024, and he’s yet to clear the century mark in a single season. While the workload demands for starting pitchers have diminished over the past decade, it’s fair to describe this as a more extreme situation than even what the Dodgers faced with Bobby Miller a few years back. It’s only natural to wonder if Hence will end up in the bullpen or some kind of hybrid role; for now, the Cardinals have no reason to rush that call. Hence figures to spend most of his age-22 season at Triple-A with an outside chance at making his debut late in the year. MLB ETA: Late summer 2025
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