St. Louis Cardinals Catcher Named 2025 Breakout Prospect

1 week ago 2

The St. Louis Cardinals are in the middle of a top-to-bottom organizational rebuild and have been busy replenishing the minor league ranks this year.

The Cardinals traded starting pitcher Sonny Gray and first baseman Willson Contreras to a Boston Red Sox this winter and dealt closer Ryan Helsley to the New York Mets at the trade deadline.

St. Louis could have more moves in its near future with second baseman Brendan Donovan, reliever JoJo Romero and third baseman Nolan Arenado have all been mentioned in trade rumors and it's expected the Cardinals will make another big deal before pitchers and catchers report to spring training.

A lot of the attention paid towards St. Louis this offseason has been regarding its major league roster. But the minor league system will play just a critical role on the team's future.

MORE CARDINALS STORIES:

What Will Be Most Fun St. Louis Cardinals Storyline in 2026?

St. Louis Cardinals Could Make Another Deal With Boston Red Sox

St. Louis Cardinals prospect gets incredible praise from Baseball America

A lot of the hype behind the Cardinals' minor leagues has been regarding infielder J.J. Wetherholt, which is ranked as the No. 5 prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline.

However, another prospect was recently highlighted in a recent article from Sam Dykstra, Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo from MLB.com.

In an article highlighting one breakout prospect from this past season for all 30 teams, catcher Rainiel Rodriguez was mentioned as St. Louis' breakout minor leaguer:

Rodriguez was certainly great in 2024 with a .683 slugging percentage and a 1.145 OPS, but in proving he could carry his trademark power to not only stateside ball but also Single-A, he jumped into the Top 100 and set himself up for further leaps in future rankings. Dating back to 2006, Rodriguez (145) is one of only three age-18 catchers with a wRC+ above 140 over 250 plate appearances or more -- Samuel Basallo (151) and Jesus Montero (147) are the others. His 20 homers on the season were tied for seventh-most among all Minor League backstops this season.

Rodriguez is the Cardinals' third-ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline and ranked No. 55 on MLB Pipeline's top 100.

Rodriguez was signed by St. Louis as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic on Jan. 1, 2024. He made his professional debut in 2024 with the Dominican Summer League. He came stateside to compete in the Florida Complex League in '25 and was promoted to High-A by the end of the season.

Rodriguez finished his year with a slash line of .276/.399/.555 with a .954 OPS across 84 games in the FCL, Single-A and High-A. He hit 22 doubles, a triple and 20 home runs with 63 RBIs.

The 18-year-old catcher is currently projected to make his major league debut in 2028 according to MLB Pipeline.

Remember to join our CARDINALS on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other CARDINALS fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!

Read Entire Article