2 major pieces of the Cardinals' future named minor league All-Stars

The future is bright and it has started to make its way to St. Louis. Even though the 2026 season ended with another missed postseason, fans should feel optimistic about the Cardinals' eventual return to division relevance. The young talent is coming to Busch Stadium quickly but prior to making the big leagues, there was plenty of exciting prospect performances this season.

The minor leagues do All-Star selections differently than in the majors, with players getting named to these teams when the season concludes. After seeing a handful of prospects receiving lower level honors, Quinn Mathews and Joshua Baez earned All-Star nods for their performances in the Triple-A International League this season.

Quinn Mathews and Joshua Baez earning Triple-A All-Star nods bodes well for the Cardinals' big league future

Both Mathews and Baez looked like locks to make their big league debuts at some point this season. The way the Major League oster was set up at the beginning of the season, however, had them biding their time and working on their consistency down in Memphis. The time for their promotions eventually arrived and both have showed their success at Triple-A can play in the majors.

For Baez, he earned his promotion after a season in the minors that produced nightly highlights. Everyone will recall his first game for the Cardinals when he hit three homers against the rival Chicago Cubs, but he did one better than that with Memphis. A couple of months prior to his historic debut, the outfielder had a four-homer game with the Redbirds that got him on the league radar.

Still, Baez had to wait for his chance at an extended opportunity in the majors so he kept putting up huge numbers in the minors. By the time his call-up came, the outfielder had a .256/.328/.573 slash line and a whopping 34 homers in 103 games. When he kept the ball in the ballpark, he swiped 21 bases after tallying 54 last season. His outfield defense needs some work as Baez was named an All-Star as a DH, but his power-speed combo provides an intriguing asset for the Cardinals' lineup.

What upside Baez provides to the offense can be compared to what Quinn Mathews can bring to the starting rotation. The southpaw had to showcase some improved skill set before getting his call to the majors and earned it with a great bounce-back season with Memphis. With 2025 being the first challenging year for Mathews, he began the year in the minors to hone in his command and polish his secondary offerings.

The organization's 2024 minor league pitcher of the year had plenty of questions to answer after a down 2025 and did just that on his way to St. Louis. When Mathews was called up to the bigs to stay, he had put up a 5-4 record in 99 Triple-A innings. The Stanford product totaled a 3.27 ERA and trimmed his walkout rate while striking out more than a batter per inning.

Through his first nine games in the majors, Mathews showed glimpses of his future ceiling and gave up three or fewer runs in all but one of his starts. Big league hitters have been able to make contact against the lefty when compared to the minor league bats, but Mathews had four starts of seven or more punchouts. Encouragingly, he lowered his walk rate from his time in Memphis, but he still has to sharpen his command of the zone a bit to avoid traffic on the bases.

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