Entering this week, Joshua Báez had been enjoying a season of ebbs and flows at the dish. Then he walked into Werner Park on Tuesday and hasn’t stopped mashing since.
MLB.com's No. 68 prospect homered in his third consecutive game Thursday night en route to Triple-A Memphis' 5-4 victory over Omaha. After starting his week with back-to-back two-homer performances, Báez now ranks fourth in all of the Minors with 16 roundtrippers this season. His 10 long balls in May tie him for the most from batters at any level, the big leagues included.
Báez kickstarted the Redbirds' offensive in the fourth by blitzing a first-pitch fastball from right-hander Henry Williams (Royals) and launching it onto the left-field berm at 103.6 mph off the bat. The next frame, he took a down-and-away changeup and poked it to the opposite field at 103.9 mph and scooted around for an RBI triple.
You might not expect it from his 6-foot-3, 220-pound frame, but speed is a big part of Báez's game. His 29.5 ft/sec average sprint speed this season is bested by only Victor Scott II and Jordan Walker among current Cardinals big leaguers.
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But it's mostly been the bat that has been doing the talking for the Cardinals' No. 3 prospect. On Wednesday night, he swatted a pair of homers to his pull side -- one on a sweeper on the outer third of the plate, another 112.5 mph off the bat, his hardest-hit homer of the year.
Eye-popping exit velocities have been all the rage for the 22-year-old in 2026. He ripped his hardest-hit ball of the season (a 113.3 mph groundout) during his first two-homer performance Tuesday, and he has accounted for seven of Memphis’ 14 highest EVs all year. He has posted an average exit velocity of 91.4 mph on balls put in play this season, among the top 20 percent of batters in the Triple-A International League with at least 100 plate appearances this year.
For all the excitement around the thunder in Báez’s bat, it’s worth considering other key developmental aspects to his game. Through play Thursday, his 67 strikeouts are tied for the 11th-most in all of the Minors. That comes out to a 31.9 percent strikeout rate, a double-digit jump from where that number sat last season (20.6 percent). Having drawn a walk just 8.1 percent of the time, it’s more of a two-true outcome approach than three at this stage.
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With that said, the Cardinals could use an infusion of Báez's kind of power. They rank in the middle of the pack in the National League in home runs (60) and OPS (.701) as a club. Recently promoted 28-year-old Bryan Torres is filling the spot of injured outfielder Nathan Church, but even with Lars Nootbaar on the mend, the group is distinctly lacking another right-handed-hitting presence on the grass to go along with Walker. St. Louis has produced just a .673 OPS against lefties and its 117 hits vs. southpaws are the fourth-fewest in the NL.
Báez has mashed left-handers, in particular, this season with eight of his 16 homers off them in just 55 total at-bats. With eight multihit games this month, the club’s 2021 second-round pick has placed himself firmly on the doorstep of the big league Redbirds.