Fresh off a stellar performance where he hit for the cycle for the second time this season, Cardinals’ outfield prospect Tai Peete is being promoted from High-A Peoria to Double-A Springfield. Peete, 20, was acquired by the Cardinals from the Mariners in the trade centered around Brendan Donovan.
Fresh off a 4-for-4 performance where he incredibly hit for the cycle for the second time this season, Cardinals’ outfield prospect Tai Peete is being promoted from High-A Peoria to Double-A Springfield.
Peete’s promotion was first reported by Ari Alexander of 7News Boston. The Cardinals have yet to make the pending transaction official.
Peete, 20, was acquired by the Cardinals in February in the trade that sent All-Star infielder Brendan Donovan to the Mariners. All the 6-foot-2, 193-pound Peete has done in his first season in the Cardinals’ organization is slash .300/.370/.611/.981 with 14 doubles, six triples, 10 homers and 39 RBI. A year after stealing 25 bases, Peete has stolen just 11 bases in 17 tries in 2026.
Peete has played just 42 games after missing six weeks with a concussion, but he was clearly one of the top performers on a Peoria team that is making a strong second-half run.
Peete needed just seven innings to record the cycle in a 13-2 win over Cedar Rapids (Twins). He doubled and scored in the first inning, drove in a run with a third-inning triple, hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning and singled off position player Graham Brown in the seventh inning for the cycle. Peete went 4 for 4, with four RBI, four runs scored, two stolen bases and 10 total bases.
Peete first hit for the cycle on April 16 in a 24-7 rout of Wisconsin (Brewers). That night, he was 4 of 7 with four RBI, four runs scored, 10 total bases and a strikeout.
Peete ranked as the No. 16 prospect in Cards' system
Peete, who is ranked as the No. 16 prospect in the Cardinals’ Minor League system by MLB Pipeline largely because of swing-and-miss concerns, missed more than six weeks of the season following a concussion suffered on May 20. He returned to hit.300 with four homers, two doubles, two triples and 11 RBI in July. He had multi-homer games against Western Michigan on July 21 and July 24, driving in six runs and accumulating 21 total bases in those two games.
Peete, the 30th overall pick of the 2023 MLB Draft by the Mariners, smashed 26 homers the past two seasons at Class A and High-A, but concerns rose after he struck out 162 times each of the past two years. This season, he has struck out 57 times in 180 at bats (31.7 percent of the time).
Peete is following a similar path as No. 1 prospect Rainiel Rodriguez and No. 18 prospect Jesus Baez, who were promoted to Double-A Springfield following strong starts at Peoria. Rodriguez, 19, has 12 doubles and 12 homers in 57 games at Springfield and he has crushed four long balls in his past five games. Baez, who was acquired last July from the Mets in the trade that centered around closer Ryan Helsley, has crushed 14 homers in just 29 games with Springfield. Baez smacked nine homers in July, and he’s already homered in his first two games of August.
Peete, a plus defender because of his blinding speed, has three outfield assists this season from the outfield. He’s committed just one error in 67 chances in the outfield.
