Cardinals Slugging Prospect Joshua Baez States his MLB Case Again with Four Homers

· Yahoo Sports

Roundtable Sports' John Denton breaks down the four-homer night by Cardinals' prospect Joshua Baez for Triple-A Memphis on Tuesday night. The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Baez now has 23 homers in 62 Triple-A games.

Joshua Baez, the fastest-rising prospect in the Cardinals’ Minor League system, is making it increasingly more difficult for the MLB club to ignore his exploits at Triple-A Memphis.

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Baez, 22, hit four home runs in five at bats in Memphis’ 12-5 defeat of the Nashville Sounds on Tuesday night at AutoZone Park in Memphis. The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Baez became just the 16th player in the Minor Leagues to homer four times in a game over the last 21 seasons.

Baez joins Chandler Simpson (Aug. 10, 2022, with Double-A Springfield) and Tyrone Horne (July 27, 1998, with Double-A Springfield) as the only Cardinals prospects to homer four times in a Minor League game over the last 30 years.

Baez making his case for an MLB promotion to Cards

Baez, a second-round pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, has looked on as former Memphis teammates Bryan Torres, Jimmy Crooks, Nathan Church and Blaze Jordan have been called up to the big leagues in recent weeks after posting big numbers at the Triple-A level. With an outfield of Jordan Walker, Lars Nootbaar and Church already in place, the Cardinals seemingly don’t have a spot where Baez could get regular playing time for the time being, but that certainly could change with an injury or as the club gets near the MLB Trade Deadline in late July.

For the season, Baez is slashing .282/.345/.621/.976 with 13 doubles, a Triple-A-most 23 homers and 58 RBI. He hit 10 home runs in May, and he already has seven long balls in June in just 12 games.

Baez’s first homer of the night came in the first inning off Nashville’s Brett Wichrowski and it left the bat at 108.2 mph and it traveled 375 feet. Baez reached Wichrowski again in the third inning by drilling a sinker 408 feet and 101.6 mph.

In the fifth inning, Baez scorched another 108.4 mph missile, and this homer traveled 373 feet.

After being retired by former Cardinals’ right-hander Jake Woodford in the sixth inning, Baez connected on a 99-mph fastball from Junior Fernandez, another former Cardinals prospect. This dead-pull homer left the bat at 103.9 mph and traveled 354 feet to put Baez into the history books.

Baez struggled mightily over his first four Minor League seasons with his strikeout rate soaring to alarming rates. However, he authored a breakout season in 2025 while splitting his time with High-A Peoria and Double-A Springfield. He smashed 23 doubles and 20 home runs and showcased his elite athleticism by swiping 54 bases – production that helped Springfield win the Texas League title.  

All the way out of the Cardinals’ Top 30 prospects list by the start of the 2025 season, Baez has climbed to No. 3 on MLB’s Pipeline’s prospect rankings in the St. Louis system.

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