Joshua Báez crushes third homer in five games for Memphis

111.8 mph off the bat, Joshua Báez launched a 395-foot line drive into the bullpen at AutoZone Park and made the kind of noise that travels far beyond one Triple-A box score. The blast, off a 92.4 mph four-seam fastball with a 21-degree launch angle, was Báez’s third homer in five games and the loudest evidence yet that the Cardinals’ No. 4 prospect is pushing past “interesting tools” territory.

Memphis still lost 10-3 to Gwinnett on April 15, but Báez kept giving the Redbirds something to build around. He opened his recent power run with his first homer of the season on April 10, followed it with a three-run homer on April 11, then cleared the wall again Tuesday. Three homers in five games is not a lucky stretch when the same hitter is repeatedly punishing pitches with that much force.

The more meaningful change is not just the exit velocity, even though Báez has already flashed that kind of raw juice before. MLB Pipeline clocked him at 112.7 mph on a 412-foot homer during the Cardinals’ Spring Breakout game, a reminder that the top-end power has never been in doubt. What has changed is how often that power is showing up in games, and how much better the bat-to-ball profile has become. MLB Pipeline noted that Báez’s whiff rate dropped from 39 percent in 2024 to 27 percent, a big step for a hitter whose biggest obstacle had been contact, not strength.

That matters because Báez is not some anonymous organizational bat. He is a 22-year-old right fielder, listed at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, drafted by St. Louis in the second round in 2021 for $2.25 million. He has always looked the part. Now he is starting to play the part with enough regularity to make the Cardinals’ front office pay attention.

Memphis’s hot start, at one point making the Redbirds the first professional baseball team to 10 wins, has also given Báez a tougher proving ground than a sleepy April assignment usually provides. He is hitting in a lineup that has already had to perform, not just develop. That makes this surge more than a random spike. It looks like a prospect beginning to force the timeline.