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Cards fan: So, in baseball, there is one statistic that is all-encompassing. It tabulates how good a player is in all facets of the game.

Alien: And that鈥檚 how you determine who the best players are?

Cards fan:聽Pretty much聽鈥� except, apparently, the 2026 National League rookie of the year.

The Cardinals鈥� JJ Wetherholt, now on the injured list for nine more days, entered Sunday with a 4.6 WAR (wins above replacement) per Baseball Reference. That鈥檚 the highest of any NL rookie. The second-highest guy? It鈥檚 not Sal Stewart. It鈥檚 the Rockies鈥� TJ Rumfield, at 3.2. The Mets鈥� Carson Benge is third (3.0), followed in fourth by the Reds鈥� Stewart (2.7).

Yes, there鈥檚 a possibility that JJ wins the rookie of the year. Yet according to numerous articles on national baseball sites, Stewart is the front-runner. After all, he entered Sunday with 30 homers, a league-best 104 RBIs and an .821 on-base plus slugging percentage. But because his defense and base running is poor, his WAR isn鈥檛 as high as other guys' WAR.

Wetherholt鈥檚 WAR is boosted big-time by his immaculate defense. He鈥檒l likely win the Gold Glove at second base. With Masyn Winn injured, he was even excelling at shortstop before hitting the IL himself on Sunday, due to right wrist tendinitis. But Wetherholt鈥檚 OPS this season is .713.

It was a high as .780 as recently as July 5.

Since then? It鈥檚 been .591.

But his defense!

It鈥檚 game-changing. Game-igniting. Sometimes, game-saving.

I asked Cardinals manager Oli Marmol about WAR聽鈥� and how some fans (and potential rookie of the year voters) don鈥檛 respect it as much when the WAR is boosted by defense.

鈥淪o, in baseball, in order to win, you have to be able to do both,鈥� Marmol said, matter-of-factly. 鈥淪o some bring more value on one side of the ball than the other, but at the end of the day, both help you win.鈥�

Colleague Jeff Jones from the Belleville News Democrat then asked Marmol: Would you like to make an affirmative case for JJ in the race that he is in?

鈥淚 think what JJ has done has been incredibly impressive,鈥� Marmol said. 鈥淎nd we play in a very difficult place to hit. What he's done as an all-around player, in my opinion, is unmatched.鈥�

Check this out: There鈥檚 a stat called fielding run value, tabulated by Baseball Savant. Not only is Wetherholt the top second baseman in that category, but he鈥檚 also the second-highest player in baseball.

Yep, potential MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong for the Cubs, a center fielder, is in first place at plus-25. Wetherholt is at plus-21. Bobby Witt Jr. is third at plus-18, and the wizard-like Winn is fourth at plus-15.

And per the overall defensive metric tabulated on Fangraphs, Wetherholt is fifth in all of baseball and first among second basemen.

I asked Marmol if he thought Wetherholt would be this good, this soon.

鈥淭his good? Yes,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his soon? No.

鈥淲hat he's done to make himself into the defender that we're seeing on a daily basis is incredibly impressive because there's not only the work that goes into it, but the attention to detail and the focus (during) every pitch of not taking a pitch off, which incredibly difficult to do, but he's done it every day. So yes, the ceiling, in my opinion, has always been very high, but how quickly he's coming into it is pretty cool.鈥�

But it鈥檚 been pretty clear over the years that many baseball thinkers don鈥檛 compare offensive production and defensive production equally. And folks can quickly cite offensive stats, while defensive stats are trickier and not as accessible. And the point of baseball is to score runs聽鈥� and you can visually see that with offensive run production; defensive run prevention is more nuanced at times.

What鈥檚 interesting about this 2026 season is: If Wetherholt doesn鈥檛 win the award, it鈥檚 the first time in a while that a clear WAR leader (by more than 1.0 WAR) won鈥檛 get the hardware.

In 2014, there was a fascinating ballot for the NL ROY. Arizona鈥檚 Ender Inciarte finished with a 3.3 WAR. The only other guy in the 3s was just two ticks higher at 3.5. That was Jacob deGrom. The Mets pitcher won the ROY聽鈥� and got 26 of the 30 first-place votes. He indeed had a sharp season: 9-6 with a 2.69 ERA and 144 strikeouts in 140 1/3 innings. He also pitched in New York, where there is just more baseball buzz than in, say, Arizona.

But Ender Inciarte didn鈥檛 finish second (that was the Reds鈥� Billy Hamilton, who got the four other first-place votes). He finished fifth! Likely because his OPS was just .677, even though he played a ridiculously good center field (and proceeded to win three Gold Gloves in his career).

And in 2010? The voters essentially said WAR is good for absolutely nothing.

In the NL, Atlanta鈥檚 Jason Heyward had a 6.4 WAR!

His OPS was also astounding at .841. And only five outfielders had more defensive runs saved (though DRS wasn鈥檛 really a thing in 2010). Alas, Heyward lost the ROY to Buster Posey, who had just a 3.9 WAR and a .862 OPS.

In the AL, Detroit鈥檚 Austin Jackson had a 5.1 WAR!

His OPS was just .745, but his center field defense was resplendent (only four outfielders had more DRS). Still, Jackson came in second to Texas鈥� Neftali Feliz, who had just a 2.5 WAR but recorded 40 saves.

And I'm not saying that this made up for Feliz winning the ROY with half the WAR of another guy, but the next year, Feliz blew a chance at a championship when he allowed the Game 6 triple to the Cardinals鈥� David Freese.