It's been a long, weird road for Joshua Baez to get here. The Cardinals took him in the 2nd round back in 2021 out of a Massachusetts high school, and for a while it looked like the power tool was never going to translate — he got stuck in High-A and was actually demoted back to Low-A during the 2024 season. Then something clicked.
The clicking part is the fun part. Baez hit his way out of A-ball entirely and spent this year raking across High-A and Double-A, blasting 34 homers while stealing 21 bags, per MLB Trade Rumors. That's the classic 5-tool prospect stat line teams dream about — huge power, real speed, a corner-outfield arm that scouts like. The strikeouts are a real question (he's whiffing at nearly a 30% clip this year, up from 20.6% last season), but at 23 years old with that kind of pop, the Cardinals apparently decided the risk was worth the reward.
According to MLB Trade Rumors, manager Oli Marmol confirmed Baez will be in the lineup as soon as tomorrow, with infielder Cesar Prieto getting optioned to clear the roster spot. Baez was already on the 40-man, so this is about as clean a paperwork move as it gets — no corresponding surprise, just the kid getting his shot.
There's a smart front-office wrinkle here too: the timing lines up with MLB's late-season rookie eligibility rules, meaning the Cardinals can get an extended look at Baez down the stretch this year while still preserving his rookie status into 2027 as long as they keep him under 130 at-bats. Basically, it's a real audition without burning the training wheels.
For a Cardinals team that's been searching for outfield answers all season, adding a legit top-100-caliber bat with light-tower power is exactly the kind of jolt September baseball calls for. Whether Baez sticks or just gets a taste, this is the beginning of the real evaluation — and Cardinals fans have been asking for this call-up for a while now.