The JJ Wetherholt Era is about to begin, and it’s exciting. Do the Cardinals have a star? Yes, JJ has the star ability and the personality to go with it.
It’s been a long time since the Redbirds had access to an early draft pick and took advantage of the opportunity to reap a formidable hitter.
Is there a position player – specifically a highly touted prospect – that compares to JJ and is similar to JJ?
Yes, there is.
JJ’s comp is JD.
JD as in J.D. Drew.
If the kids or young adults aren’t familiar with J.D. Drew, just Google him, or look up his page at Baseball Reference. See his numbers. See what he did for the Cardinals from 1998 through 2003.
David Jonathan Drew – formal name; don’t ask me about his sequencing of initials – was an outstanding ballplayer. Very, very good … and underrated. He had the five-tool armament including a rainmaker right arm in right field. J.D. could throw, hit for average, blast with power, turn on the speed, and field with sharp instincts and range.
Now, before you say “no” to my JJ and JD parallel, please let me add this: my comparison only goes so far.
Why? Because JJ Wetherholt and JD Drew have much different personalities. At this respective stage of their careers – entering the majors, the 2026 Wetherholt isn’t wired the same as the JD Drew of 1998.
I’m talking about disposition, magnetism, style, demeanor – and the vibe they give off. The differences between these two elite talents are pretty dramatic, and I’ll elaborate later on.
But many of their baseball similarities are on point. Their backgrounds are a close match. They had the same entry way to St. Louis.
Let’s review:
* Both are left-handed hitters.
* Both had excellent careers in collegiate baseball: Drew at Florida State, Wetherholt at West Virginia.
* Check this out: JJ batted .449 in college ball. Drew batted . 455. JD had more power than JJ, but Wetherholt was no slap hitter. He rocketed line drives all over the place in the Big 12.
* Both were considered the best amateur hitters in their respective draft classes. Both had control of the strike zone, didn’t chase many bad pitches, and were difficult to fool.
* Drew was a left-handed hitter who combined a disciplined eye with the ability to drive the ball to all fields. Wetherholt’s swing touches many locations on his “map” of the playing surface.
* Drew was thicker than Wetherholt is now and had more punch in his power. Drew was more rigid in posture; Wetherholt is, as the scouts say, “twitchy.” (A good thing.) Drew was a pull-heavy hitter; Wetherholt slices and drives pitches to all fields. The ballpark is JJ’s driving range.
* The MLB scouts loved Wetherholt’s sweet swing and intellect but fretted over a recurring hamstring problem. The scouts were ga-ga over Drew. The hype over J.D. bordered on legend and lore.
* When Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. asked team scouting director Fred McAlister to assess Drew’s hitting ability in the final days before the ‘98 MLB draft, the old-school southern gentleman paused for effect and then said …
“Best hitting prospect I seen since Mantle.”
DeWitt – a bit stunned – wanted to clarify.
“Mickey Mantle?”
Freddie nodded.
“Yessir. Best I seen since Mickey Mantle.”
* Drew was drafted 5th overall by the Cardinals in 1998. Wetherholt was drafted 7th overall by the Cards in 2024. Both reached the majors in a hurry, but Drew got there faster, spending only 45 games in the minors in 1998. Wetherholt had more time in the minors … but still only 138 games. Wetherholt made a no-fuss entry into pro ball. Everybody liked him. He was charming and friendly and enjoyed having conversations with fans and media.
* Drew? Not so much. Drew was a notorious figure before he entered the bigs. A brief history lesson: The Phillies selected the Georgia native No. 2 overall in the ‘97 draft. But Drew – definitely a bottom-line dude, a “bidnessman” – had retained the tough Scott Boras as his agent.
The Boras contract demands offended Philly’s management, the two sides feuded, insults were publicly traded, and that was that. Drew refused to sign. He spent the summer of 1997 playing Independent League ball, then reentered the draft in 1998.
A Sports Illustrated baseball writer referred to Drew as “a pariah and a symbol of greed.”
DeWitt and Boras talked about the money in advance of that draft, and DeWitt made something clear to Boras: we’ll give J.D. what he’s looking for. We just need to be assured that he’ll sign with us. Done.
DeWitt put up a lot of money (at the time) to secure Drew’s signature on a contract, and Cardinals fans were thrilled.
Philly fans were also thrilled – in a manner of speaking – when Drew made his first career visit to Philadelphia in the summer of 1999. They showered right field with debris. They pelted him with size “D” batteries from behind the outfield walls. The umpires stopped the game. Cards manager Tony La Russa pulled Drew off the field to keep him safe.
I covered it all, and it was brutal.
Drew handled the situation with grace.
And he said nothing derogatory about Philadelphia or Philly fans.
Drew got along fine with the fans in St. Louis and always expressed his appreciation – but in his usual low-key, head-down manner which raised a question: does poor J.D. ever have fun?
Drew was promoted to the big club on September 8 of 1998 and made his big-league debut as a pinch hitter with the Cubs in town. It was festive time; the Cards-Cubs rivalry was roiled with the emotion of the classic Sammy Sosa vs. Mark McGwire home-run duel that became a traveling circus across the U.S.
Drew made his big-league debut two months before his 23rd birthday. Wetherholt will do so on Thursday afternoon at age 23 years old and six months. Drew, the private man, had a high-profile start in the majors. Wetherholt, the friendly man, will experience St. Louis baseball as a player for the first time. He’s probably the happiest person alive – or, as La Russa would say “tied for first.”
Drew wasn’t a bad guy. Not at all. But my impression of him was fairly standard. He was aloof. He stayed to himself. He didn’t perform for the media. He played ball. Went home. Ate. Slept. Got out of bed. Ate. Played ball. Repeat. His teammates admired Drew’s talent but couldn’t understand why he was so distant and, in a way, unreachable.
La Russa had … questions. In his book Three Nights in August, author Buzz Bissinger mentioned La Russa's frustration with Drew's lack of passion. In comments to Bissinger, TLR suggested that Drew had decided to "settle for 75%" of his talent (and not push hard enough) after signing a huge rookie contract with the Cardinals.
A few years later, La Russa offered another Drew view in an interview with a Boston baseball writer.
“My feeling at the time was that J.D. needed to push himself to be as great as he can be, because he’s so talented he could play at a high level and still be better,” said TLR, who managed Drew for six seasons in St. Louis. “That’s your obligation as a coach, to get him to the max. But he’s been gone (from the Cardinals) since then, and he’s done well. To me, that’s a matter of maturity, and I’m sure he’s understanding more and more what he’s capable of doing.”
Drew put up big numbers in his six years with the Cardinals. Batted .282, had a high .377 on-base rate, slugged .498, put up an .875 OPS and performed 21 percent above league average offensively. During his six seasons in St. Louis the only Cardinals who rolled up more WAR than Drew from 1998 through 2003 were Jim Edmonds, Albert Pujols and McGwire.
But there was always a feeling that Drew had more to give, and I don’t think that was always fair. His personality wasn’t a character flaw; his personality reflected a quiet man who didn’t feel the need to make a noisy, showy entrance or exit from the clubhouse each day. On team flights and bus rides he looked through catalogues, was interested in the newest and latest technology gadgets, and did the solitary man thing. And that’s OK.
Drew’s greatest gift to the Cardinals and their fans? GM Walt Jocketty traded him to Atlanta after the 2003 season in a transaction that delivered pitching prospect Adam Wainwright to St. Louis. Drew had a year to go before free agency, and Jocketty wasn’t going to lose him. Losing him was inevitable, so Jocketty wisely cashed in. After a year in Atlanta, Drew signed a very large free-agent contract with the Dodgers, stayed in LA for two years, then finished his career on a five-year contract with the Red Sox. Drew retired at age 35 after playing 14 seasons.
I don’t know if J.D. Drew loved playing baseball. Maybe it was the curse of talent. Maybe he knew that what he did was never enough because fans and media and teammates and managers always thought he had another gear, another speed, and a higher dial to set his intensity. But I never got the idea that he loved playing the game.
Wetherholt won’t be that way.
There is an obvious joy that he brings to the game. He loves every minute of it (not so much the failures) and can’t wait to go through drills, work on fundamentals, study video, pour through scouting reports and play each game as if he had something deeply personal on the line. His confidence is not obnoxious. His dedication to ball is obvious. He won’t be out-worked.
But dang, JJ will have fun. And he will make it fun for his teammates and fans. He has natural charisma, natural leadership skills, and by all accounts is an excellent teammate. As manager Oli Marmol says, Wetherholt has a vibe that gets everyone gravitating toward him. And he doesn’t turn away. He understands what it means to be The Guy. He’s cool with it.
The stage doesn’t bother Wetherholt. He wants to be there. And he stands there with pride. When you are living out a dream, you don’t ruin your own dream with surliness, unnecessary saltiness, or by projecting yourself as some temperamental superstar who is above your teammates.
Wetherholt – The Guy – is happy to be one of the guys. He knows he will command a lot of attention … which inspires him but also humbles him.
This will sound like a slap at J.D. Drew and I don’t mean it that way. But Wetherholt is J.D. Drew with the kind of passion, and heart, and soul that no one will ever question. And he won’t dishonor his own talent. He will not leave others wondering if JJ had more to give.
The Cardinals and their fans will get his best. Giving his best isn’t optional; that obligation is deeply embedded in him. He knows that his talent isn’t a curse. His talent is a blessing.
I’ve said this before and I’ll offer this again on the eve of the 2026 opener: Cards fans will adore JJ Wetherholt. And as this new era and adventure gets underway, Cards fans will love JJ Wetherholt even more than they realize.
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015. Before that Bernie spent a year at the Dallas Morning News, covering the Dallas Cowboys during Tom Landry’s final season (1988) plus the sale of the team to Jerry Jones and the hiring of Jimmy Johnson as coach. Bernie has covered several Baseball Hall of Fame managers during his media career including Tony La Russa, Whitey Herzog, Earl Weaver, Joe Torre and (as an interim) Red Schoendienst. In his career as a beatwriter and columnist, Bernie covered Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches Joe Gibbs, Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson and Dick Vermeil on a daily basis.
Bernie has covered and written about many great St. Louis sports team athletes including Albert Pujols, Kurt Warner, Brett Hull, Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright, Jim Edmonds, Marshall Faulk, Scott Rolen, Mark McGwire, Orlando Pace, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Al MacInnis, Brian Sutter, Bernie Federko, Chris Pronger, Dan Dierdorf, Jackie Smith and Aeneas Williams. Bernie covered every baseball Cardinals’ postseason game from 1996 through 2014 and was there to chronicle teams that won four NL pennants and two World Series. He provided extensive coverage on the “Greatest Show” St. Louis Rams and has written extensively on the St. Louis Blues, Saint Louis U, and Mizzou football and basketball. Bernie was/is a longtime voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Heisman Trophy and the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STL Sports Central, catch him regularly on KMOX (AM or FM) as part of the Gashouse Gang, Sports Rush Hour, Sports Open Line or Sports On a Sunday Morning shows. And you can catch weekly “reunion” segments here at STL Sports Central featuring Bernie and his longtime friend Randy Karraker.