Quick thoughts on Joshua Báez's call-up
The power-hitting outfield prospect will be promoted to the majors and in the lineup for Saturday's game against the Cubs
Not long after the Cardinals’ 3-0 loss to the Cubs on Friday, Oli Marmol confirmed reports that began circulating in the middle innings – outfielder Joshua Báez, one of the top prospects in the system, would be called up and in the lineup for Saturday’s game at Wrigley.
Báez, 23, this season leads all minor leaguers in home runs, with 34 in 103 games for Triple-A Memphis. Overall, he’ll arrive in the majors after having batted .256/.328/.573 this season with 21 stolen bases in 24 attempts.
Born in Boston but raised in the Dominican Republic until his family returned when he was a child, Báez first drew the attention of scouts at Dexter Southfield School in Massachusetts, not just for his plus-plus game power, but also for his two-way athleticism — he touched 97 mph on the mound. The Cardinals were sufficiently moved to tab him with the 54th overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft and then go well above slot to sign him to a $2.25 million bonus. To state the obvious, an organization doesn’t do that unless they’re quite high on the player in question.
Báez saw very limited action in the Florida Complex League, and in 2022 he played just 32 games. That’s because he suffered a wrist injury after his first plate appearance of the season. The injury eventually required surgery, and he missed more than two-and-a-half months. Still, he showed promise late in the year, as he managed a slash line of .286/.418/.540 in 20 games as a 19-year-old in the Florida State League. In 2023 and 2024, Baez’s strikeout problems exacted a price against more advanced competition, as he batted .231/.338/.395, struck out in 34.8% of his PAs, and had a swinging strike rate of 18.1%. In 2024 specifically, a hot 15 games at Palm Beach earned him a promotion to the Midwest League, at which point he proceeded to strike out in 37.3% of his plate appearances with a swinging-strike rate of 20.8%. The shine was coming off, and even at age 21 Baez seemed at risk of becoming one of the countless raw-power specialists who just can’t get the bat on the ball often enough.
But then in 2025 Báez broke out at Peoria and Springfield with 46 extra-base hits in 117 games across the two rungs and 54 steals. Even more encouraging is that Báez reduced his strikeout rate from 35.5% in 2024 to 20.6% in 2025. That, suffice it to say, is a massive improvement, and it came despite playing most of the season at a higher rung than he did in 2024. As well, Báez’s swinging-strike rate tumbled from 19.2% to 12.3%.
While he made major strides this season with his power and production on contact, his swing and miss and chase crept back up. Báez’s gaudy home run numbers had many fans clamoring for his promotion much earlier in the season, but internally the Cardinals were worried that his renewed contact concerns would be exploited at the highest level, which in turn would mean he wouldn’t be able to put bat to ball often enough to take advantage of his capacity to do damage. In recent weeks, though, he’s shown progress on this front.
Let’s consider some key plate discipline indicators and how they’ve improved from the first half of the current season to the second half:
