The Cardinals may have unloaded Ryan Helsley at last year’s trade deadline, but one of the return pieces is already making the deal look a lot more interesting.
Jesus Baez, the 21-year-old infielder St. Louis got from the Mets in the Helsley package, is tearing through the minors and looking every bit like the organization’s best prospect from that haul. He’s the Cardinals’ No. 19 prospect on MLB Pipeline, a 5-foot-10, 180-pound infielder whose bat is starting to match the buzz that followed him out of the Dominican Republic.
Baez signed in 2022 and wasted no time making noise. That same year, he was named New York’s Dominican Summer League Player of the Year after posting a .744 OPS.
Two years later, he was still climbing fast, putting up a 121 wRC+ with the Mets’ Single-A club as a teenager. Then came a torn meniscus that wiped out his 2024 season, followed by a restart at Low-A St.
Lucie and a promotion before the trade sent him to St. Louis.
The early results in the Cardinals’ system were solid but not eye-popping. In 27 games with High-A Peoria, Baez hit .243/.303/.378 with four homers and 15 RBIs. Good production, but not the kind that stops you in your tracks.
What he’s doing now is different.
Across 61 games between Peoria and Double-A Springfield, Baez has piled up a .262/.317/.545 line with 19 home runs and 52 RBIs, good for a 112 wRC+. He’s doing it with a 16.6% strikeout rate and a 7% walk rate, which gives the power surge a little more weight. His 14 home runs in High-A set a single-season record for the Peoria Chiefs.
And Springfield has been even louder. Baez is more than a year younger than the average player at that level, yet he’s hit .400/.464/1.040 in seven games for a 1.504 OPS. He’s launched five homers in those seven games, including two in last night’s game, and he’s gone deep four times in his last three contests.
His 19 home runs on the year are tied for 15th in all of Minor League Baseball.
The bat is grabbing the attention, but Baez’s profile still starts with the arm. He’s spent most of his time at shortstop, logging 37 games there, while also seeing action at third base and second base.
He’s made eight errors at short, and the range is described as his weakest defensive trait, but the glove is graded at 45 and the arm at 60. Third base remains a useful fallback if shortstop doesn’t stick.
There’s another Baez making noise in the Cardinals’ farm system, too. Joshua Baez is pacing the minors with 26 home runs and has been electric in Memphis all year, putting himself on the doorstep of the majors.
For St. Louis, the “Baez Bash Bros” idea suddenly doesn’t sound like a joke at all.
In Other News...
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The setting only made it feel bigger for Walker, who was back near the area where he grew up in Stone Mountain, Georgia. For a hitter who has carried a heavy load for St. Louis all year, the question now is whether this was just one loud swing in a familiar place or the start of another power stretch at the right time. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Suddenly Face A Dustin May Concern At The Worst Time
Dustin Mays latest start for the Cardinals ended almost as soon as it began, when the right-hander was struck by a comebacker in the first inning against the Braves. For a club trying to navigate a crucial part of the schedule, the timing could hardly be worse, because every turn through the rotation matters and St. Louis needs stability more than another question mark.
The Cardinals are now watching Mays status closely as they wait to see how he responds in the days ahead. If he cannot take his next turn, Hunter Dobbins stands as the most obvious fallback from Triple-A, giving St. Louis at least one clear contingency while it sorts out a situation that could shape the rest of this stretch. [Read more 🡒]