JJ Wetherholt, Cardinals Reportedly Agree to Terms on 9-Figure Contract amid Rookie MLB Season

The St. Louis Cardinals are locking in standout rookie second baseman J.J. Wetherholt for the long term.

The Cardinals and Wetherholt have agreed to a long-term, nine-figure contract, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.

The deal is worth $112.5 million over eight years, the New York Post's Jon Heyman reported.

Wetherholt was previously under team control through the 2031 season, per MLB.com's Will Leitch.

The 23-year-old is slashing .267/.362/.411 with 13 home runs and 36 RBI through 87 games of his first MLB season.

The Cardinals originally selected Wetherholt 7th overall in the 2024 MLB draft out of West Virginia.

He posted a .306 batting average in Triple-A and Double-A action last season and was ranked as MLB Pipeline's No. 5 prospect when making the jump to MLB in 2026.

Wetherholt was previously set to remain under team control until he turned 29 at the end of the 2031 season.

The new extension, assuming it kicks in next season, will cover three years of free agency and keep Wetherholt with the Cardinals until he turns 32 in September 2034.

Wetherholt has made almost all of his MLB starts at second base, where he is currently tied with the Chicago Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong for second in MLB with 16 outs above average (h/t Baseball Savant).

He also ranks top-ten among MLB position players in WAR as assessed both by Baseball Reference (3.7 WAR) and FanGraphs (3.6 WAR).

Wetherholt is now cashing in on that strong season start with the largest contract in Cardinals franchise history, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The previous record for a Cardinals contract had been held for more than two decades by Albert Pujols, who inked a seven-year, $100 million deal with the team in 2004.

Wetherholt is the first Cardinal with a confirmed salary for 2027. Other young players including Iván Herrera, Masyn Winn and Alec Burleson remain under arbitration control through at least the next few seasons, per FanGraphs' Jon Becker.

The Cardinals could now turn their attention to other extensions as the club, with a 48-44 record heading into the All-Star break, looks to take the next step forward in their rebuild by snapping a three-year postseason drought.