Cardinals Hint at Rainiel Rodriguez, Jesus Baez 2027 Plans

The St. Louis Cardinals have two of the most intriguing prospects in Major League Baseball, but it doesn't sound like the club is planning on skipping steps to get to the big leagues.

Cardinals top prospect Rainiel Rodriguez and No. 15 prospect Jesus Baez absolutely tore it up down in Double-A in 2026. Rodriguez was named the Cardinals' Minor League Player Of The Year by Baseball America. He also won the Texas League Batting Title after batting .328 in 87 games with Double-A Springfield. Baez crushed 39 homers and drove in 109 runs across 113 total games in High-A and Double-A.

On Tuesday, Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom was asked about the idea of guys in Double-A who put up massive numbers skipping steps and coming to the big leagues if things go well in Spring Training. While not completely shutting down the idea, Bloom certainly threw some cold water on the idea of skipping steps.

"I'd love to expedite the learning curve with those players, I just think that the game sometimes punishes you for trying to skip steps to do that," Bloom said when asked about the Double-A duo. "I never want to put anything past anybody. I don't want to put a ceiling on somebody, but usually when you look at players — even players who have excelled in Double-A — and then you try to make judgements off Spring Training, you can get burned. It can take a while to dig out of that. ... I don't think that would be something we'd go into Spring Training looking to do."

Who Will Make The 2027 Opening Day Roster?