Báez keeps power surge going with fifth homer of the week

Joshua Báez is turning Triple-A Memphis into a nightly showcase for raw power. The Cardinals’ No. 3 prospect homered for the fifth time this week in Wednesday’s 5-2 win over the Omaha Storm Chasers, and MLB Pipeline noted that no player at any level had more home runs in May than the 22-year-old outfielder.

Wednesday also marked Báez’s second consecutive multihomer performance, a run that pushed him to the 15-homer plateau across all levels and made him the seventh Minor Leaguer to get there this season. He has been handling center field and right field for the Memphis Redbirds while the bat keeps carrying the load.

The surge built on Tuesday’s 19-5 rout of Omaha, when Báez tied career highs with four hits and five RBIs and delivered his first multihomer game of the season. Seven of his previous 11 hits had gone for extra bases, including five homers, a stretch that has made every trip to the plate feel like a potential damage ball for Memphis.

By the time May 28 rolled around, Báez had nine homers in the month, tying him for third among all hitters. One day later, MiLB video showed him at 16 home runs on the season, another marker of how quickly the scoreboard has been changing around him. His most eye-catching swing came May 17, when he launched a 438-foot homer at 110.8 mph exit velocity, the kind of blast that underscores the sheer force in his right-handed swing.

Báez was drafted by St. Louis in 2021 out of Boston and remains only 22, but the larger question now is not whether the power is real. It is whether this barrage at Triple-A is the start of a true hit-tool breakthrough, or a thunderous streak that still needs more plate-discipline context before it alters his major-league projection. For the Cardinals, and for the rest of the league watching Memphis, the answer is getting harder to ignore with every trip around the bases.