ST. LOUIS -- Throughout the early stages of Sunday night¡¯s MLB Draft, as the picks kept ticking off and JJ Wetherholt remained available, the talented shortstop got bombarded by a spree of text messages from Pittsburgh-based friends who didn¡¯t necessarily like the idea of him going to the Cardinals, the National League Central rival of the Pirates.

However, Wetherholt knew those friends would eventually come around and be happy for him after he became the No. 7 overall pick -- even if it was to the Cardinals.

? How West Virginia's JJ Wetherholt transformed into a No. 7 pick

¡°Surprisingly, we¡¯re not the craziest Pittsburgh family,¡± said Wetherholt, a native of Mars, Pa., which is about 25 miles north of Pittsburgh. ¡°A lot of friends from back home texted me, and they did not want me to go to the Cardinals. But for this, they¡¯ll become Cardinals fans.¡±

Wetherholt, who won the NCAA Division I batting title in 2023 when he hit .449, became a big fan of the Cardinals on Sunday when they made him their highest Draft choice in 26 years. Many mock drafts had the multitalented Wetherholt, 21, going as high as No. 1 overall to the Guardians. However, when he eventually fell to the Cardinals at No. 7, he was the no-brainer selection, assistant GM and director of scouting Randy Flores said.

¡°Looking at his batting line and the back of the baseball card, it¡¯s that he's hit and he's always hit,¡± Flores said of the West Virginia University product. ¡°What was impressive to our scouting group this summer was that he did it against the best competition and he did it while nursing some soreness [from a hamstring injury]. Oftentimes, in this day and age, it's natural that players only want to play when they are 100 percent. But even though he was limited physically this summer, he was taking at-bats and DHing, going so far as to hit a home run and not jog out the home run to preserve his legs and keep them healthy.¡±

Wetherholt, who grew up playing second base but said he is comfortable at shortstop, was bothered throughout the 2024 season by multiple hamstring injuries. In just 36 games with the Mountaineers, he hit .331 with eight home runs, eight doubles and 30 RBIs. His stolen bases dropped from 36 in 2023 to six in 2024, but Flores doesn¡¯t think the injury will slow the player who was ranked as the No. 4 Draft prospect by MLB Pipeline.

¡°He had another setback at the beginning of the spring but recovered and continued to recapture the momentum that he had going into the spring, and that put him into play for us at pick 7,¡± said Flores, whose staff scouted Wetherholt extensively in college and in wood bat summer league games. ¡°We met with him at the MLB Combine and [heard] him go over his program and the steps he¡¯s taken to ensure that physically he¡¯s able to meet the rigors of the game.

¡°I think he showed he could get back on the field -- and show the athleticism on both sides -- and he got more confident in the strength in his legs. That¡¯s something that we anticipate him at 100 percent moving forward and having this [injury] in his rearview mirror.¡±

Sunday¡¯s Draft was the first that the Cardinals picked in the first round¡¯s top 10 since 1998. That 1998 pick was J.D. Drew, whom the Cardinals nabbed with the No. 5 pick. Drew played 597 games and hit 96 home runs over six seasons with the Cardinals from 1998-2003.

The Cardinals went in knowing the potential of landing a star with the No. 7 pick based on the history of the players that have come from that Draft slot. Clayton Kershaw (2006), Frank Thomas (1989), Troy Tulowitzki (2005), Nick Markakis (2003), Prince Fielder (2002), Aaron Nola (2014) and Max Fried (2012) are the all-time WAR leaders selected at that spot since the creation of the MLB Draft in 1965.

Wetherholt said much of what he knows about the Cardinals is about St. Louis being a baseball-loving city and what he saw while watching them beat up on the Pirates for years at Pittsburgh¡¯s PNC Park.

¡°The Pirates were pretty competitive when I¡¯d first go to Pittsburgh when I was growing up,¡± Wetherholt said. ¡°Then, I started going to Pirates games looking forward to seeing what the other team would do. A lot of those games were against the Cardinals, and they always hit a lot of homers at PNC, so I remember a lot of those games.¡±