The Cardinals’ newest waiver pickup may end up serving as a useful mirror for Joshua Báez.
Báez is the name Cardinals fans have latched onto down in the minors, and it’s not hard to see why. He’s already launched 32 home runs in Memphis, the kind of number that sends imaginations racing toward a future middle-of-the-order bat.
But the strikeout rate is the part that keeps the picture from getting too rosy. Báez is striking out 29.4% of the time in Triple-A this season, and that kind of swing-and-miss profile can travel with a hitter when he gets to the majors.
That’s where Everson Pereira comes in. The Cardinals’ latest waiver claim once carried a far brighter prospect label with the Yankees, ranking as Baseball America’s third-best Yankees prospect in 2019 and landing on their top Yankees prospects list from 2019 through 2025.
The raw power was always part of the appeal. The whiffs were the warning sign.
Over his past two Triple-A seasons between the Yankees and Rays, Pereira struck out nearly 30% of the time, and in his major league seasons with those clubs, that figure ballooned to 38.6%.
The Cardinals know that profile well enough to treat Pereira as a possible guidepost for Báez rather than just another outfielder fighting for a job. Pereira’s career .172 average and 37.1% strikeout rate stand as a cautionary example of what can happen when the bat speed and power never quite outrun the swing-and-miss.
That’s part of the backdrop for the Cardinals’ current approach. Chaim Bloom and the organization have leaned into high-upside talent, betting that the development staff can help players reach the upper end of what they’re capable of. Pereira will be part of that evaluation now, and with no minor league options left, the Cardinals will try to adjust his swing and see whether he can become a usable big leaguer.
If that works, it could say something about how much confidence the Cardinals should have in getting Báez there too.
That doesn’t mean Báez is walking into a job the moment rosters expand in September. Even if his call comes then, he would still have to force his way past Pereira or fellow hard-hitting free agent signing Nelson Velázquez. The Cardinals are not handing out outfield reps just because a prospect has a loud stat line in the minors.
Fans will keep waiting, of course. They always do when the next bat starts piling up numbers in the farm system.
This year it happened with Jimmy Crooks, it happened with Blaze Jordan, and now it’s Báez drawing the attention. He could absolutely arrive and hit the ground running.
But Pereira is the reminder sitting right there in the roster mix: big power, plenty of hype, and a real chance that the major league version looks a lot rougher than the dream.
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