Cardinals’ JJ Wetherholt makes Albert Pujols history with homer off Paul Skenes

Story by

Chris Spiering, ClutchPoints

Thu, April 30, 2026 at 6:42 PM UTC ·

2 min read

Cardinals’ JJ Wetherholt makes Albert Pujols history with homer off Paul Skenes appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .

The St. Louis Cardinals have a new household name in Missouri. JJ Wetherholt is becoming a star in front of everyone’s eyes, and it’s only been 30 games into his MLB career.

Wetherholt entered Thursday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates with an extra-base hit in five consecutive games. In the very first inning against the reigning NL Cy Young winner, Paul Skenes , the second baseman wasted no time hitting a home run to give his team the lead.

Sarah Langs shared historic stats of this home run and how it compares to two legendary names.

“23-year-old JJ Wetherholt is the youngest Cardinals player with a 6+ game extra-base hit streak since 2003 Albert Pujols . The longest XBH streak by a Cardinals player at 23 or younger since at least 1900 is 7, by: 2001 Pujols & 1938 Enos Slaughter.”

If Wetherholt were to smash another extra-base hit in Friday’s contest, he would do something that has only been done twice in Cardinals’ history. This early into his rookie season, he would already insert himself as one of the best rookies in the history of the ballclub. That is a lot of pressure for the young man, but his numbers are backing it up.

Wetherholt entered his game on Thursday with an average of .248 and an OPS of .821 (49th in MLB). His six homers were tied for 32nd in the league, but now that he has seven, he’s likely in the Top 30 of the league as a second baseman. He’s now tied with Pirates’ Brandon Lowe , who arguably has more home-run power than anyone at that position.

Just last weekend, the rookie smashed a home run in three straight games to kick off this historic run. He now has his fourth in six games and hit three doubles combined on Monday and Tuesday. Funny enough, he’s also being hit by a pitch in what seems like every game.

Let’s not forget, Wetherholt was drafted in the first round in 2024 and made the jump to the bigs less than two seasons later. The rookie is here to stay for a long time.