Cardinals Phenom Turning Heads in Triple-A, Could Be Future Closer

The St. Louis Cardinals have been fun to watch all season to this point and the thing that should have the fanbase most excited is the fact that this is just the beginning.

St. Louis has a young roster in the majors and has prioritized development. Also, by trading all of the veterans away that the club did this past offseason, they are also trying to build up a sustainable and top-tier farm system in the process as well. When you're a club that isn't going to be near the top of the league in payroll, you have to find other ways to get elite talent. Over the years, the Cardinals have been excellent down in the minors, but it wasn't the case over the last three years, for the most part. Guys near the top of the farm system, like Masyn Winn, Jordan Walker and JJ Wetherholt are obvious. But the farm system hasn't been especially deep.

That's one thing that president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom has been hard at work trying to fix. That came in the form of the deals this past offseason. It also doesn't hurt that there are guys who have been in the system for a bit who have completely turned it up a notch as well, like No. 3 prospect Joshua Báez.

The Cardinals Slugger Is Turning Heads In Triple-A

Mar 7, 2026; Jupiter, Florida, USA; St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Joshua Baez (22) hits a home run in the second inning against the New York Mets at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images | Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

He is 22 years old now and is playing at an elite level down in Triple-A. The young slugger has 45 games under his belt and is slashing .247/.330/.522 with an .852 OPS, 13 homers, 34 RBIs, 11 stolen bases, and 31 runs scored. He's making his case for the club to consider promoting him to the big leagues and Tuesday was his biggest statement yet.

He mashed two homers for Triple-A Memphis and went 4-for-6 overall with five RBIs and three runs scored.

Joshua Báez: destroyer of hanging breaking balls 😤

The @Cardinals' No. 3 prospect mashes his second home run of the game for the Triple-A @memphisredbirds, his fifth career multihomer performance: pic.twitter.com/ovW4U8hYDS
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 27, 2026

What can't this guy do? There's been buzz around him all season to this point and it has been warranted the entire time. He slashed .333/.417/.762 with a 1.179 OPS and three homers in 10 games in Spring Training and has kept the good times rolling. There was a real argument that he should've made the big league roster out of camp, but the Cardinals opted for a more cautious and linear approach and sent him to Triple-A instead.

Since then, he has continued to dominate. It's going to be tricky to get him up to the majors with Lars Nootbaar nearing his return and Nathan Church coming back at some point too, but he's really making it hard for St. Louis to keep him down in the minors. He looks like a future star in the making, it's just a matter of getting him to the big leagues now.

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