How Rising Cardinals OF Joshua Baez Reinvented His Career In 2025
Image credit: Joshua Baez (Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
On July 30, 2024, the Cardinals placed outfielder Joshua Baez on the Development List. Up to that point, Baez’s career had been marred by injuries and underwhelming production. Once rated as the Cardinals’ No. 7 prospect following his 2021 second-round selection, he had since fallen off the list and looked like a player desperately in need of a reinvention.
At that point, he was hitting .225/.306/.388 with a 37.3% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate across 71 games for High-A Peoria.
That’s when Baez made a career-altering change.
Baez used his four weeks on the Development List to his advantage, altering his swing and getting more upright in his setup. The changes worked. Upon returning to play, Baez identified balls and strikes with greater proficiency and was also more consistently on time with the barrel.
Though it was only a 15-game sample upon his return, Baez looked like a different player. He slashed .340/.459/.500 while cutting his strikeout rate to 27.9% and upping his walk rate to 13.1%. But three hot weeks to finish a season didn’t erase the memory of what had come before. As such, he entered 2025 unranked on the Cardinals’ Top 30 list for the first time.
Little did we know that this marked the beginning of a career transformation.
Baez entered the spring revitalized, and fresh off a healthy offseason, he impressed in spring training. He returned to High-A Peoria, but this time something was different. Over the first month of the season, Baez showed he could handle the treacherous April chill of the Midwest League. His reduced 23.8% strikeout rate was a sharp contrast to his career 34.4% mark entering the season.
Then, in May, things really took off. Baez hit .373/.466/.573 over 19 games for High-A Peoria and earned a promotion to Double-A Springfield on May 28. With the jump in level, Baez didn’t miss a beat, hitting .278/.394/.582 over his first month with Springfield and keeping his strikeout rate at 27.3%. In 36 games since, Baez’s strikeout rate has improved even more, dropping to 20.1%—a number that seemed unfathomable just 12 months earlier.
Under the hood, the data backs up Baez’s vast improvements. He’s making significantly more contact, making better swing decisions and hitting the ball harder with greater frequency than ever before.
| Season | Level | Swing% | Z-Whiff% | Miss% | Chase% | 90%EV | HardHit% | xwOBA |
| 2025 | AA | 46.30% | 20.60% | 27.50% | 22.10% | 107.2 | 47.10% | 0.347 |
| 2024 | A+ | 51.20% | 28.10% | 37.40% | 28.50% | 105.5 | 44.70% | .290 |
| 2023 | A | 47.60% | 37% | 43.20% | 29% | 107.4 | 40.70% | 0.284 |
Baez has now more than passed the threshold of contact and approach needed to find success. Now back up to No. 9 in the Cardinals’ system, his vast improvement has altered the course of his career, and his production this season clearly shows he’s better utilizing his impressive combination of power and speed.
Because he faces Rule 5 eligibility this offseason, the 22-year-old has an excellent chance of being added to the Cardinals’ 40-man roster. A big league debut next summer isn’t out of the question if he sustains his improved plate skills.
Once written off as a bust, Baez has used a strong 2025 season to blossom into one of the minor leagues’ biggest helium prospects.
