ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The St. Louis Cardinals announced 25 non-roster invitees for 2025 Spring Training and among the invitees includes the Cardinals three most recent first-round draft picks and Baseball America's 2024 Minor League Pitcher Of The Year.
Outfielder Chase Davis, infielder J.J. Wetherholt, and starters Cooper Hjerpe and Quinn Mathews were named among the 25 prospects the Cardinals invited to participate in 2025 Spring Training as non-rosters invitees.
Davis, Wetherholt and Hjerpe are the Cardinals three most recent first round draft picks, while Mathews was, by far, the Cardinals best prospect in 2024.
Davis and Hjerpe both reached Double-A at the end of 2024, while Wetherholt appeared in 29 games for the Cardinals' Single-A affiliate in Palm Beach.
Mathews, meanwhile, quickly rose through the Cardinals minor-league system, starting 2024 in Palm Beach, but ending the season with the Cardinals Triple-A affiliate in Memphis, Tennessee. Overall, Mathews posted a 2.76 ERA across 26 starts last year.
Mathews is the player among the non-roster invitees who will have the best shot to try and make the Cardinals Opening Day roster should he impress Cardinals coaches and brass during Spring Training.
Most likely, Mathews will start 2025 in Triple-A at Memphis, but if Matthews look as good as he did in 2024, a major-league callup and debut is all but possible.
Davis and Hjerpe will look to set themselves for a potential future callup to the Cardinals in 2026 most likely. Hjerpe posted a 3.27 ERA across 11 starts in High A+ Peoria and four starts in Double-A Springfield, but would only pitch 52 1/3 innings.
Meanwhile, Davis played 112 games, with 70 of them coming in Palm Beach. Overall, Davis posted a slash line of .253/.350/.417, smashing 12 home runs and collecting 70 RBIs.
Wetherholt, who is still ways away from a callup, will look to prepare for his first full season in professional baseball. In 29 games for Palm-Beach, Wetherholt slashed a .295/.405/.400 and collected 20 RBIs.
Across the 25 non-roster invitees, seven of them are catchers including Leonardo Bernal and Jimmy Crooks, five pitchers, including Hjerpe and Mathews, are left-handed, and five are infielders and only four are outfielders, including Davis.
Pitchers and catchers will officially report to the Cardinals' Spring Training facility in Jupiter, Florida, on Wednesday, Feb. 12, while first full team workouts will be on Monday, Feb. 17.
The Cardinals' first Spring Training game will be on Saturday, Feb. 22 against the Miami Marlins.