Joshua Báez didn’t waste any time making his power impossible to ignore.
When the St. Louis Cardinals brought up the young slugger, the selling point was obvious: the bat can leave a dent.
Báez had already put up huge numbers in Triple-A, launching 34 homers and driving in 90 runs over 103 games before his call to the majors. The real question was never whether he had pop.
It was how that power would play once the pitching got better.
So far, the answer has been loud.
Báez announced himself in a way no one in baseball history had before, blasting three homers in his MLB debut on Aug. 15 against the Chicago Cubs. That kind of night can’t be repeated, of course, but it set the tone for what has followed. In 17 big league games, Báez has already gone deep six times, including a shot to left-center on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
That kind of production jumps off the page next to the Cardinals’ regular power numbers. Jordan Walker leads St.
Louis with 28 homers in 135 games, while Báez’s six in 17 games works out to a pace of 47 homers over 135 games. It’s far too early to say that’s the kind of season he can actually sustain, but the raw damage has been undeniable.
The comparison that really turns heads is Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Báez is one homer behind Guerrero, who has seven in 124 games.
That gap is startling on its face, especially given Guerrero’s track record. From 2021 through the 2025 season, he hit 159 homers, an average of 31.8 per year, and he led the American League with 48 in 2021.
For Báez to be sitting just one behind him after 17 games is the kind of early stat line that makes people do a double take.
Of course, Báez still has plenty to clean up. He’s hitting .175 with a .238 on-base percentage, and he has only four non-homer hits along with three walks.
In the minors, he hit .256 with a .328 on-base percentage, so there’s clearly more in there if he starts putting the ball in play more often. Right now, though, the home run production is carrying the story.
That’s the tradeoff with a rookie in his first taste of the majors. There are going to be flashes that make everyone lean in, and there are going to be rough patches too.
Báez has already delivered both. But if this is the baseline power, the Cardinals have something real to build around.
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