New Baseball America story on Josh Baez
Posted: 22 Aug 2025 16:11 pm
I know I’m posting too much about Baez, but today’s story (subscription only) has some good stuff:
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... r-in-2025/
“A big league debut next summer isn’t out of the question if he sustains his improved plate skills.”
It says that last season he was hitting .225/.306/.388 with a 37.3% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate across 71 games for High-A Peoria. At that point, the organization put him on the Development List, removing him from the team to work on skills.
“That’s when Baez made a career-altering change. Baez used his four weeks on the Development List to his advantage, altering his swing and getting more upright in his setup. The changes worked. Upon returning to play, Baez identified balls and strikes with greater proficiency and was also more consistently on time with the barrel.”
In only 15 games after his return last year, Baez slashed .340/.459/.500 while cutting his strikeout rate to 27.9% and upping his walk rate to 13.1%.
And then there’s this year where he’s continued to improve the K-rate (20% in the last 36 games) and BB rate and is the best player on Springfield’s roster.
In a nice combo of stats - his “miss %” has improved dramatically from 43.2% in 2023 to 27.5% in 2025, while his hard-hit rate has improved from 40% to 47%. Missing the ball far less and hitting it harder. And his chase rate has gone down from 29% to 22%.
Pretty impressive. I watch the majority of his ABs on MiLB.com and he’s a different batter this year. And yeah, 46 steals and stellar defense (some in CF).
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... r-in-2025/
“A big league debut next summer isn’t out of the question if he sustains his improved plate skills.”
It says that last season he was hitting .225/.306/.388 with a 37.3% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate across 71 games for High-A Peoria. At that point, the organization put him on the Development List, removing him from the team to work on skills.
“That’s when Baez made a career-altering change. Baez used his four weeks on the Development List to his advantage, altering his swing and getting more upright in his setup. The changes worked. Upon returning to play, Baez identified balls and strikes with greater proficiency and was also more consistently on time with the barrel.”
In only 15 games after his return last year, Baez slashed .340/.459/.500 while cutting his strikeout rate to 27.9% and upping his walk rate to 13.1%.
And then there’s this year where he’s continued to improve the K-rate (20% in the last 36 games) and BB rate and is the best player on Springfield’s roster.
In a nice combo of stats - his “miss %” has improved dramatically from 43.2% in 2023 to 27.5% in 2025, while his hard-hit rate has improved from 40% to 47%. Missing the ball far less and hitting it harder. And his chase rate has gone down from 29% to 22%.
Pretty impressive. I watch the majority of his ABs on MiLB.com and he’s a different batter this year. And yeah, 46 steals and stellar defense (some in CF).