Cardinals fans will have to wait bit longer for highly anticipated Joshua Baez debut

Joshua Baez has been sending shockwaves through the St. Louis Cardinals fanbase with each towering blast he hits down at Triple-A. While his debut feels inevitable before the end of the season, a recent report from Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch confirms that his debut will not come this weekend against the Chicago Cubs, when the cutoff to maintain rookie eligibility passes.

Many fans and media have circled this Saturday, August 15th, as the potential date for a Baez call-up due to how that impacts his rookie eligibility. To maintain rookie status for 2027, Baez cannot spend more than 45 days on the Cardinals' active roster or exceed 130 at-bats, so Saturday is the first day when that 45-day mark would no longer affect his status.

Now, when they call up Baez could potentially change based on injuries or other unforeseen factors. But since the Cardinals are lining him up for a call-up in the near future, their return to St. Louis on Tuesday, August 25th seems like a really good prediction for when we will finally see Baez make his debut.

Joshua Baez's debut is an exciting look into the future for the Cardinals

Baez's power is undeniable, but his swing-and-miss issues are at least a yellow flag worth monitoring and will drastically impact his ability to either mash or struggle at the big-league level.

Entering the 2025 season, Baez was not even on the Cardinals' top 30 prospect lists anymore after he had major struggles in the low levels of the minors with making contact. But Baez's hard work led to a drastic turnaround that saw him become a top-100 prospect in the sport and jump up to Triple-A this year. Some of those gains he made in the contact rate department have tapered off this year, but overall, he's still a very, very promising prospect who has already proven he can rebound and adjust to the struggles he faces.

In 102 games for Memphis this year, Baez is slashing .254/.326/.567 with 33 home runs and 88 RBI to go along with 21 stolen bases. His 129 OPS+ is impressive, and he's in the 96th percentile or better among Triple-A hitters in Hard-Hit%, 90th EV, Barrel%, average exit velocity, and xwOBAcon. Moving forward, improving his zone contact rate (just 65.8%), his 29.5 K%, and his 8.1 BB% would go a long way toward helping his power play to its full capability.

Baez has notably been playing left field more for Memphis as of late, which seems to be the Cardinals' way of letting him get comfortable there before his inevitable call-up. It's really fun to dream of a corner outfield duo of Baez and Walker long-term, as those two could be two of the best power-hitting right-handed bats in the game if all goes well. That's why the Cardinals are so excited about Baez, but also why they are willing to be patient with him to make sure he reaches that potential.

So, keep an eye out for a Baez call-up soon, but it won't be this weekend.

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