Joshua Baez made MLB history in his debut and proved Chaim Bloom’s master plan

Saturday's St. Louis Cardinals game had a little extra meaning. Sure, any game involving the Cardinals and their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, means more, but Saturday's game in particular was set to feature Joshua Baez's big-league debut. Cardinals fans have high expectations for Baez, one of the top prospects in their system, and boy, did he meet them in his debut.

Baez drilled the very first pitch he saw in the majors 449 feet to straightaway center field. The ball went off his bat at nearly 109 mph and it was instantly gone. As if that wasn't crazy enough, Baez didn't stop there, going deep for a second time in his second big-league at-bat.

You thought he was done? Baez wanted to show the world that he has power to all fields, so he promptly took a 1-0 slider from Matthew Boyd and crushed a ball to right field to extend the Cardinals' lead.

Baez took three different pitch types to three different parts of the field for three home runs in his big-league debut at Wrigley Field. Nobody had ever homered in his first three big-league plate appearances until Baez. Is that special or what?

Joshua Baez's superstar upside was on display in MLB debut

Baez is one of MLB's most tantalizing prospects. It's easy to see why prospect evaluators love him. He's a terrific athlete who is not only capable of hitting moonshots, as he did on Saturday, but he also had 21 stolen bases in Triple-A this season after swiping a whopping 54 bags in 2025. It's rare to see prospects with the kind of power and speed upside Baez possesses. His hit tool, though, is likely why it took the Cardinals this long to promote him.

Strikeouts will probably always be part of his game, but his second at-bat shows the strides he's made in that area. Baez was down in the count 0-and-2 and was able to get the count full before launching his second home run of the day. Baez did not chase, waited for his pitch, and did not miss it.

Ultimately, Baez was ranked as FanSided's No. 22 overall prospect for a reason. He's not a flawless prospect, but his upside is so massive that it's hard to consider him anything but a top-25 prospect. He's a player worth getting very excited about, yet he is far from the only Cardinals player worth getting excited about.

Cardinals have quietly built an outstanding position player core

The Cardinals have a young and incredibly promising lineup. JJ Wetherholt is tied for seventh in the majors with 4.2 fWAR and is in position to win the NL Rookie of the Year award. Jordan Walker, this year's Home Run Derby winner, ranks fourth in the majors in RBI. Alec Burleson's 126 wRC+ is 26th among MLB qualifiers, ahead of stars like Walker, Shea Langeliers and Elly De La Cruz. Ivan Herrera is one of the league's best hitting catchers. Even Masyn Winn, amid a down year offensively, is an absurdly gifted defender at shortstop.

The Cardinals have offensive building blocks everywhere you turn, and many of them are blossoming right now. Sure, the pitching needs work, but this lineup rocks, and has the potential to get even better in the not-too-distant future.

Cardinals have more high-end prospects worth dreaming about

What if I told you Baez isn't even the best prospect in the Cardinals' system? That's right - catcher Rainiel Rodriguez ranks No. 19 on FanSided's Top-100 list. He's spent most of the year in Double-A and has torn the cover off the ball, posting a .901 OPS with 14 home runs in 66 games. I'm not fully convinced he'll remain behind the plate, but boy, can he hit.

The Cardinals' pitching doesn't look great right now, but they have two particularly exciting pitching prospects. Jurrangelo Cijntje (FanSided's No. 58 prospect) just allowed one run on two hits with 11 strikeouts in his last outing in Triple-A, and while he got off to a rough start at that level, he's been getting better. Liam Doyle (FanSided's No. 63 prospect) has 106 strikeouts in just 82 innings, flashing electric stuff at the Double-A level. There's a chance both of these prospects factor into the Cardinals' rotation sometime next season.

Chaim Bloom has Cardinals in prime position to win in the future

The Cardinals entered a rebuild this offseason when they parted with veterans Willson Contreras, Sonny Gray, Nolan Arenado and Brendan Donovan in trades for prospects, and yet, they're way ahead of schedule. They're already in the Wild Card mix, and while the odds are stacked against them when it comes to actually making the playoffs, who said they can't get there in 2027?

This team is loaded with young, promising talent both in the majors and in the minors, and not to mention, the only player guaranteed a contract past the 2026 campaign is Wetherholt, who recently inked an eight-year, $112.5 million extension with St. Louis. The Cardinals can, and presumably will, add some established veteran talent to surround their many up-and-coming young players.

The arrow with this organization is pointing straight up, and Baez's electrifying debut only emphasizes that.

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