St. Louis Cardinals prospect Josh Baez earned incredible praise from Baseball America on Sunday, with the outlet calling him the most improved prospect in 2025.

In addition, they say that Baez, who entered 2025 outside the team's Top 30 prospects, could be a Top 100 prospect in the sport heading into 2026.

About Baez

For what it's worth, MLB Pipeline currently has Baez as the No. 13 prospect in the organization. A second-round pick of the Cardinals in 2021 out of Florida State, he's projected to make his major league debut this season.

He hit .287 across High-A and Double-A in 2025, spending 79 games at the latter. He had 20 home runs and 79 RBIs, and he stole a whopping 54 bases.

He still strikes out a lot, but he's cut his strikeout number each of the last two seasons, fanning 103 times in 117 minor league games.

Baseball America cited his swing-and-miss as one of his main question marks before his breakout 2025. Also, as a Massachusetts native who was unable to play year-round growing up, they thought maybe he was a little raw and didn't have the same exposure to high-level competition as others.

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Here's where the Cardinals' 40-man roster stands

How he slots into the Cardinals plans

Given that Baez is on the 40-man roster, he's really only one injury or trade away from getting an opportunity in the big leagues. As of now, Lars Nootbaar, Jordan Walker and Victor Scott figure to be the starting outfield, but if Nootbaar is traded this offseason, things will continue to open up for Baez.

Alec Burleson, Nathan Church and Bryan Torres are other outfielders on the St. Louis 40-man. Burleson is expected to see significant time at first base.

Can Cardinals compete in 2026?

The Cardinals are clearly going through a rebuild and are not expected to compete for the playoffs. That said, after acquiring the likes of Richard Fitts and Hunter Dobbins in the rotation, they should be able to hang tough and give teams problems.

The offense could be an issue, especially after trading away Willson Contreras, and presumed trades of Brendan Donovan and Nolan Arenado.

The team will report to spring training in about six weeks, and we'll have a more full picture of how the roster situation looks.

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