Cardinals minor leaguer performs like top prospect but gets no recognition

Coming into the season, St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguer Joshua Baez appeared to be on the verge of maxing out as a low-level minor leaguer since being selected in the second round of the 2021 MLB Draft. Through four seasons since his selection, Baez had made it to High-A, but struggled so badly that he was sent back to Low-A during the second half of the 2024 campaign.

Since then, however, he responded to the challenge and hit his way out of A-ball by May of this season and ended up spending 79 games with Double-A Springfield where he seems to have unlocked the next level of his game. According to FanGraphs, Baez is projected to be an outfielder with plus power but may struggle to make contact consistently. The power projection has rung true and Baez's approach at the plate this season shows he can grow into a hitter with solid plate discipline.

Joshua Baez was one of two minor leaguers with a 20 homer, 50 stolen base season

Baez finished last season with a .245 batting average and struck out over 35% of the time, but managed to hit 11 homers and steal 29 bases while playing all three outfield positions. He started in Peoria this season and through 38 games with the Chiefs, the 22-year-old hit .317 with four homers and 20 stolen bases while trimming his strikeout rate to a solid 21.4%, leading to his promotion to Springfield.

After his promotion to Double-A, Baez spent the majority of his time in right field while hitting in the middle part of the lineup. Whatever Baez did this offseason seemed to work as he kept his hot streak going while in Memphis. At the end of his time in Double-A, the outfielder hit .271 with an .883 OPS and added 16 homers and 34 stolen bases, while also keeping his K-rate low and increased his walks. All told, Baez finished the 2025 season with a combined .287/.384/.500 slash line with 20 homers and 54 stolen bases. Even with those numbers, the 22-year-old finds himself ranked as the Cardinals' 11th-best prospect and is unranked among the game's top minor leaguers.

Baez's numbers did not just surpass many of the names on lists ahead of him. His season was so spectacular that it was only matched by one other player... Konnor Griffin, the number one prospect in all of baseball. Before getting too out of sorts about Baez being left off while Griffin is the best of the best, the Pirates prospect finished this season hitting .333 with 21 homers and 65 stolen bases while splitting time between three levels, finishing the year at Double-A. As noted on Twitter by Redbird Farmhands, this is only the third time in almost 70 years that two prospects have had 20+ homers and 50+ stolen bases in one season.

Joshua Baez is still just 22 years old, and it would be a concern if he stayed in Single-A during his fourth season of professional baseball. The progress that the righty outfielder has made from last year to this year should help him move back up prospect boards and back into relevance when discussing the future of the St. Louis Cardinals.