The Cardinals have spent the better part of this rebuilding season handing the keys to their young core, watching who grabs the wheel and who spins out. Lately, the outfield has been spinning.
Victor Scott II arrived with legitimate buzz after a strong 2025 campaign, but 2026 has been a rude awakening. His bat has gone quiet at the worst possible time, dragging down an already inconsistent Cardinals offense over the past few weeks. What once looked like a dynamic table-setter at the top of the order has struggled mightily to get on base, exposing a glaring hole in center field.
Kerry Miller at Bleacher Report didn’t mince words when he identified center field production as St. Louis’ biggest problem. His proposed fix is as straightforward as it gets: call up Joshua Báez.
“If they’re in it to win it, they simply have to call up Joshua Báez, right?” Miller wrote. He pointed out that Scott’s defensive impact has dipped from last season, he’s been caught stealing four times in 11 attempts, and “what he is proving thus far in 2026 is that he can’t reliably get on base, flirting with dead last in the majors in both OBP and OPS.”
Meanwhile, Báez—the club’s No. 3 prospect—is putting on a show at Triple-A Memphis. The young right-handed slugger is slashing .254/.335/.569 with 16 home runs, 39 RBI, 11 stolen bases, and a robust .904 OPS. Even more eye-opening: he’s launched nine homers in his last 14 games alone. That’s more long balls than Scott has hit in his entire 243-game MLB career.
The beauty of this move is how it fits the Cardinals’ dual priorities. They’re still in rebuild mode and want to develop their young talent, but if the club surprisingly stays in the Wild Card conversation, they need to find wins where they can. Báez gives them a way to do both.
Slide the prospect into a corner outfield spot, shift either Nathan Church or Lars Nootbaar over to center, and suddenly the lineup gains a right-handed power threat it has badly missed. Since trading Willson Contreras to Boston last winter, St. Louis has lacked that thump from the right side. Báez could fill that void immediately.
This isn’t about giving up on Scott entirely. He’s still young and has tools that played well in the minors. But right now, the Cardinals need production. Báez is raking, and his bat profile complements the current roster in ways Scott hasn’t been able to lately.
Chaim Bloom has some tough decisions ahead. The organization has preached patience with the youth movement, but baseball also rewards results. If the Cardinals want to stay competitive while continuing their long-term plan, promoting Báez feels like the clearest path forward.
The outfield logjam has a solution hiding in plain sight in Memphis. The question is whether the front office pulls the trigger before the offense falls further behind.