Cardinals Chaim Bloom pours cold water on Joshua Baez's Opening Day odds

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Joshua Baez has been on a tear in spring training.

He has a .333/.429/.667 slash line in nine games (20 plate appearances) so far. He's slugged two home runs, driven in three runners, and struck out five times while walking twice. He's also stolen one base.

His strong spring showing comes on the heels of a breakout year in 2025 in the minors. Baez, a former highly-touted prospect, had failed to live up to his billing in his first five years in the minors. However, thanks to changes to his approach, swing, and mindset last year, Baez was able to slug the most homers among all Cardinals minor leaguers last year. He also dropped his strikeout rate to just 20.6%.

Due to his torrid 2025 season and his hot start at spring training, many fans have been clamoring for Baez to start the year on the major-league roster. Let's not get ahead of ourselves though.

St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom throws cold water on Joshua Baez starting the year with the Cardinals.

Fans are loving what they're seeing out of Baez this spring, and his power potential is tantalizing for an organization that has struggled to produce power hitters over the last decade. Baez's arm and speed are also enticing qualities to fans.

With Lars Nootbaar looking to start the year on the Injured List, there's space in left field, particularly a right-handed hitter with pop.

However, Baez has never played above Double-A, and Chaim Bloom is hesitant to rush the club's No. 4 overall prospect according to MLB Pipeline. In an interview with Tom Ackerman of KMOX, Bloom discussed Baez's strong spring performance.

"(Joshua Baez) has some pop. We know we need that both short and long term...he's going to have every chance to be a part of that (core). We just gotta make sure we aren't selling short that journey and making sure we don't skip steps."

Chaim Bloom

While Bloom is impressed with what he's seen out of Baez thus far, he's fully aware that the hype shouldn't outweigh common sense.

In the interview with Ackerman, Chaim Bloom brought up Jordan Walker's premature promotion. "I've been asked a lot of questions since being here, particularly around someone like Jordan (Walker) about 'Did he get up here too fast?' 'Was it right for him to skip Triple-A?'" said Bloom. "Hindsight is 20/20, but it's important to remember those things when we're talking about someone like Josh."

Many around baseball believe that Jordan Walker was promoted too early, and his development was stunted by not giving him time in Triple-A. The jump to the majors is extreme, so organizations have been more cautious when it comes to promotions recently. Chaim Bloom has historically played promotions conservatively, so the same should be assumed for Baez in 2026. Additionally, Joshua Baez isn't on the 40-man roster, so a corresponding move would have to be made if he were to make the team on Opening Day.

Joshua Baez is an offensive spark plug, and he's done nothing but mash baseballs for over a year now. However, that production shouldn't cloud fans' perspectives when it comes to him starting on Opening Day. There's no harm in giving him more time to develop in the minors. There's a strong chance a spot opens up in the outfield at some point in the season. That spot should be Baez's to fill assuming he continues to produce like he did in 2025.