Major Minor Matters 5/26

Joshua Báez (STL) Bids Two Baseballs Goodbye, Collects Four Hits

Báez cut his strikeout rate by nearly 15 percentage points in 2025 en route to a true breakout campaign that saw him slug 20 home runs and steal 54 bases. He made more consistent contact (+11.0%) that allowed him to tap into more of his raw power. He’s doing a fantastic job lifting and launching (28.3% airpull, 91st percentile in Triple-A) and his resulting surface line is masking some concerns under the hood. His zone contact rate (70.7%) has entirely backed up, and his chase rate (36.3%) is unlikely to improve should he earn a promotion to St. Louis. He finished Tuesday’s game with two homers and four hits while managing to keep a clean ledger in the strikeout column. It’s worth monitoring both his contact rate and his strikeout rate as the summer wears on — if neither improve, he’s a potential sell candidate.

Wyatt Sanford (PIT) Socks Several Souvenirs

Sanford’s profile has done a complete 180 year-over-year. He’s completely sold out for power, sacrificing bat-to-ball and spiking his strikeout rate from 19.8% to 34.2%. His glove really shines — he was perhaps the strongest shortstop defender among the 2024 prep draftees — and gives him a much better shot at being a big league regular, but he’ll need to find a happy middle-ground between slap-happy and swinging out of his shoes for the bat to play. If he manages a 75% overall contact rate (which he has not achieved at any level as a pro), he might be able to make an all-or-nothing approach work. Even with three longballs on Tuesday, it appears unlikely his current strategy will get him there.

Nolan Perry Parries (TOR) Opponents Over Six Scoreless

Perry featured in this column a week ago when he struck out ten opposing batters over five frames, and he K’d another eight yesterday. He’s up to 36 punchouts in his last 21.0 innings and totes a 44.2% K-rate with a 1.07 ERA between Single- and High-A this year. Perhaps his flat 94-96 mph heater is a touch better than above average as I wrote last week (very few hitters in the Northwest League would argue to the contrary). As noted last time, the Blue Jays have been remarkably proficient in their pitching development department over the last two years, generating pitching breakouts from Trey Yesavage, Johnny King, Gage Stanifer, and a few others who have since departed the organization via trade. If he’s not rostered in your league, Perry is a priority waiver target — if not to hold for MLB value when he eventually debuts, to trade for value sooner.