Baez forced issue in left, but wary Cardinals avoided repeat of Walker mistake
The most reliable way to judge the plans of the St. Louis Cardinals continues to be watching what they do more closely than what they say. That is true even across a change in administration over baseball operations, and it’s true even when they work to tamp down expectations.
Over the weekend, with a need to plug a hole in the lineup in left field, the Cardinals reached into their depth and ran Miguel Ugueto out for a start in a big league spring training game. Across from him, in right field, stood Josh Baez, the once and future prospect who slugged and sped his way back into the organization’s plans in 2025 and has only built on that success with a staggeringly impressive spring.
Now, lo and behold, the Cardinals slotted Baez into his first left field start of spring on Monday and then, after he blasted his third homer of the spring in game action against the Baltimore Orioles, optioned him to Triple-A Memphis. Curiosity satisfied and order restored.
Baez posted an OPS approaching 1.100 over his first 21 plate appearances of spring, a sample size so small as to hardly be worth discussing. Those results, though, are reflective of the work that has caught the attention of his manager as well as other evaluators.
After struggling badly enough in Class A in 2024 that he spent a spell on the development list working out of the team’s Florida complex, he blossomed into one of the most productive hitters in all of the minors in 2025. With 20 home runs and 54 steals spread across two levels, it came as no surprise when he vaulted back up prospect rankings over the winter.
The rub is that his 79 games and 329 plate appearances last season for Double-A Springfield represent the sum total of his professional experience above Class A. Baez, who turns 23 at the end of June, told reporters at Busch Stadium soon after signing as a second-round pick in the 2021 draft that he expected to be back and in the big leagues within three years. He missed that projection, which at the time drew scoffs and raised eyebrows. He’s now drawing attention and more than a little bit of longing from those who see an obvious short-term hole to be filled.
The Cardinals have not yet declared Lars Nootbaar out for opening day, though that is a mere formality. The rotation of left fielders they’ve sorted through in spring — José Fermín, Thomas Saggese and Nelson Velázquez chief among them — has gotten smaller, thanks in large part to the World Baseball Classic. Bryan Torres was on the fringes of that group but was optioned to the minors not long after departing to play for Puerto Rico.
Saggese, suiting up at shortstop for Italy, will return to camp following pool play and likely vaults right to the front of the line.
Homers or no, opportunity or no, there is of course reason for caution with Baez. These Cardinals are unlikely to be confused by anyone for a solid contender, and there’s plenty of wisdom in allowing him to thrive in Triple-A — or at least experience it — before throwing him into the deepest possible end of the deepest possible pool.
With Jordan Walker, the Cardinals have seen something close to the worst-case scenario of advancing a player through multiple levels at once after falling in love with a skill set in an impressive spring. There are differences, however. Walker was two years younger in 2023 than Baez is now, and without any of the significant setbacks and adjustments Baez has had to make through the minors.
There’s also a different roster reality: Walker had to be added to the 40-man to make the team, and Baez already holds a spot by virtue of the Cardinals needing to protect him from the Rule 5 draft last winter.
By this point in Walker’s breakout spring, the worm was starting to turn and some of the cracks in his swing that would later portend a demotion were already showing. Those were glossed over as the team went full steam into having him in the lineup full time, and from there spiraled the series of events that now has him staring down an uncertain future rather than a guaranteed place in the team’s core. The lineup decisions around Walker in 2023 made it clear that the Cardinals determined early he would have a spot, and they adjusted their reality to get there. Monday’s placement of Baez in left could be argued to be some of the same; by making sure to get one look at him in game action, they at least have a gauge for what that eventuality could look like should it arrive.
It might be nothing until it’s something. A team that has preached over and over that it will not sacrifice the long term for the short term would be making a questionable choice to take a toolsy, skyrocketing prospect and thrust him into its lineup simply because of a lack of other exciting options to do so, especially when the other options are steady enough.
Nothing is off the table, though, if the season gets underway and Baez assaults Memphis the way he did the Grapefruit League. Until Baez was sent to the minors, he was on the team, which meant he had a shot. It was well aimed. They are eager to see his next.
