The Joshua Báez Breakout Has Officially Arrived for Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals have a potential star on their hands in Joshua Báez.

Sep 1, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Joshua Baez (22) celebrates after hitting a home run during the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

St. Louis Cardinals slugger Joshua Báez is heating up right now, to say the least.

Báez made his big league debut on Aug. 15 and immediately made an impact. The 23-year-old became the first player in Major League Baseball history to bash three homers in a big league debut. After that, he cooled off. He still hit the ball hard, but he couldn't find any green, outside of a few long balls.

Now, he's hitting the ball out of the ballpark, and also has reached base without the long ball. Since September began, he looks like a completely different player. In five games, Báez has slashed .438/.500/.938 with a 1.438 OPS, two homers, five RBIs, two doubles and six runs scored. On Saturday, he crushed his seventh homer of the season in the majors.

A Báez laser beam! 💥 pic.twitter.com/zIajOsSbUG

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) September 6, 2026

Joshua Báez Is Special

Sep 2, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Joshua Baez (22) hits a 2 run RBI double during the tenth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

There's just something about the way this guy crushes homers. Look at that long ball, for example. It was a pitch that was down and in and the 22-year-old clobbered it. It left his bat at 109.1 miles per hour and would've been a home run in all 30 big league ballparks, per Baseball Savant. The ball just sounds different when it leaves Báez's bat.

It's known that he has big-time power. There's no denying that. Now, he's starting to put the rest of the game together at the big league level, which makes him significantly more dangerous. If an opposing team just has to worry about a homer, you can pitch around that. Just throw it out of the zone. But if they have to worry about him getting his walks and also finding other ways to impact winning, without hitting the ball out of the ballpark. Then, all of a sudden, you have to be more careful with him.

He's batting .438 in September and has fewer homers in five games this month than he did in his big league debut. But he has been even better overall. He's not going to bat .438 forever, but if he can consistently get on base, on top of his prolific power, he's going to be a star in this league for a long time.

Báez has played in 21 total games and has seven homers. That's a pace of 54 homers in 162 games. Plus, his OPS+ is 142, which is just seven points below Shohei Ohtani's 149 OPS+. This kid is special, to say the least.