Redbird Minor League Weekly: Ragsdale Comes Alive at Double-A, Rodriguez and Baez Hit Back-to-Back Twice
By Caleb Hughes ·
Redbird Minor League Weekly covers the last 7 days of action for the Cardinals farm system.
Ragsdale Makes a Statement in His Double-A Audition
Josiah Ragsdale (AA, OF, Rank: 35) went 8-for-30 with two home runs, a double, six RBI, seven walks, and two hit-by-pitches across the week at Springfield, finishing with nine times on base in 30 plate appearances. That is a remarkable on-base week for any prospect, and it fits a player whose calling cards have always been discipline and athleticism rather than pure slug. The 30-day numbers at Double-A put the full picture in focus: a 15.6 BB% over 109 plate appearances, contact sitting at 70.1 percent, and five home runs in 23 games. The power uptick is new and worth tracking. Last season at Low-A he posted a .300 average with zero home runs across 92 plate appearances, so the emerging pop is a real development in 2026. For the season across all stops, Ragsdale has 24 home runs, 36 stolen bases, and a 17.1 BB% in 492 combined plate appearances, numbers that point to a player who has genuinely added a dimension rather than simply moved up a level.
He is a plus runner with a 60 speed tool who projects in center field, and the scouting concern has always been whether the 50 hit grade and some swing length would survive against upper-level pitching. This week did not settle that debate, but it did show that the combination of patience and improved power can compensate in stretches where the contact quality wavers. The strikeout rate at Double-A sits at 23.9 percent over the last 30 days, which is elevated but not alarming for a player generating this much on-base value alongside it. The arm (45) still limits his defensive flexibility, and if the routes and reads in center do not sharpen he could drift toward a corner-and-speed profile with a shrinking runway. But a 22-year-old outfielder posting a 15.6 walk rate with five homers in his first month at Double-A is at minimum doing everything the projection asked him to do, and possibly a little more.
Rodriguez and Baez Turn Springfield Into a Launch Pad
There is a single game from this week worth its own paragraph. In an 11-4 Double-A win, Rainiel Rodriguez (AA, C, Rank: 1) and Jesus Baez (AA, SS, Rank: 22) hit back-to-back home runs twice in the same game, with Baez finishing the afternoon with four home runs total, including a three-run shot in the ninth. Rodriguez added a sacrifice fly on top of the two homers. For the week, Rodriguez went 5-for-24 with a home run, five RBI, and seven walks in 24 plate appearances, drawing nearly as many free passes as hits. Baez was 8-for-24 with a homer, five RBI, and two walks. The context behind each player's week, however, tells very different stories about what those lines mean.
Rodriguez at Double-A over the last 30 days is operating in a tier that has no obvious comp in the system right now. He is slashing .398/.467/.773 over 105 plate appearances with eight home runs, nine doubles, 24 RBI, and only 12 strikeouts. A 10.5 BB% alongside a 76.7 contact rate at a 52.3 percent swing rate points to a hitter who is both aggressive and consistently in control of what he chases. He is 19 years old. The 60 power tool has always been the headline, but it is the contact feel holding up alongside it that makes this month genuinely hard to explain away. The defensive questions behind the plate remain: a 40 field grade and receiving and blocking that are still developing mean the offensive bar he must clear in a catching role climbs fast if those areas stall. For the season across both stops, he is hitting .314/.406/.558 with 24 home runs, 29 doubles, and 57 walks in 498 plate appearances. Baez's month has also been serious power production. Over his last 21 games at Double-A he is slashing .352/.381/.636 with seven home runs and 25 RBI, sitting at 36 homers and 100 RBI for the season combined. He is a 60 power tool with a 45 hit grade and a 4.4 BB% at Double-A; the walk rate is the profile, not a flaw you can coach around. The power is real, the on-base ceiling is not, and the pop has to keep translating against advanced pitching for the second-division projection to hold.
Quick Hits
- Liam Doyle (AA, LHP, Rank: 4) · logged 5 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts, generating 9 swinging misses out of 88 pitches. The surface line does not fully represent where he is right now: over his last five starts at Double-A he owns a 1.40 ERA across 25.2 innings with 33 strikeouts, 11 walks, a 51 percent strike rate, and zero home runs allowed. The 60-grade fastball and 60-grade slider are the engine, and when he is sequencing off both, the strikeout rate climbs toward 33 percent over that stretch. The season ERA sits at 3.77 through 22 starts, a mark that undersells the recent version.
- Jacob Odle (A+, RHP, Rank: 29) · had an eye-catching pitching line: 9.1 innings, 3 hits, 2 earned runs, 8 walks, and 19 strikeouts across a doubleheader split. The 40 whiffs out of 175 pitches back up the strikeout total. The walk rate is the persistent complication; 8 free passes in a single outing is not a command profile that works sustainably, and the season BB% at High-A is 17.6 percent. The 143 strikeouts in 96 innings this year show the stuff is real, but at a 35.9 percent whiff rate paired with 65 walks, Odle remains a projection arm rather than a polished one.
- Pete Hansen (AAA, LHP, Rank: 38) · turned in his best start in weeks: 7.1 innings, 5 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks, and 10 strikeouts against 30 batters faced. The ERA at Memphis is 4.56 for the season, but over his last six Triple-A starts he has posted a 2.75 ERA across 19.2 innings. He is a command-first, five-pitch mixer with a 55 cutter doing most of the heavy lifting, and when the fastball stays down and the pitch count stays manageable, the profile functions as projected: a back-end starter who survives on execution rather than velocity.
- Leo Bernal (MLB, C, Rank: 15) · was recalled from Memphis on September 1, his first career promotion to the big leagues. In his first 13 plate appearances with St. Louis, he is hitting .308 with a home run. He slashed .278/.363/.468 with 16 homers and 9 stolen bases in 432 Triple-A plate appearances this season, which earned him the call.
- Sebastian Dos Santos (A, SS, Rank: 18) · posted 4 hits, a double, a homer, four RBI, three walks, and two hit-by-pitches across 19 plate appearances. Over his last 30 days at Low-A he is slashing .279/.459/.525 with four home runs, an 18-walk stretch, and only 16 strikeouts. At 18 years old, a 21.2 BB% in any extended sample is unusual; the plate discipline grades out ahead of the rest of the profile, and if the 45 power tool develops with his frame, the utility-floor projection could end up looking conservative.
- Deniel Ortiz (AA, 3B, Rank: 26) · drove in 3 on 4 hits, including a homer and double, across 21 plate appearances with 4 walks and only 5 strikeouts. The last 30 days at Double-A look like this: .299/.389/.558, five home runs, a 12.6 BB%, and a 14.7 K% over 95 plate appearances. The strikeout rate in that stretch is the lowest he has posted at any full-season level, and the contact rate at 79.4 percent backs it up. The 55 power tool is showing, and he may be outplaying the utility projection for now.
- Mason Molina (AAA, LHP, Rank: 47) · went 4 innings, allowed 4 hits and no runs, walked 2, and struck out 5. It continues a stretch where the Triple-A ERA sits at 2.49 over his last five starts after a rough early run in Memphis. The season split is stark: a 2.87 ERA in 14 Double-A starts and a 6.16 ERA across his first 10 at Triple-A. The last month suggests the fastball-slider combination is finding its footing at the higher level, though the walk rate remains a factor.
- Cooper Hjerpe (AAA, LHP, Rank: 30) · struck out 6, walked 3, and allowed 1 earned run over 4 innings, with 14 swinging misses out of 74 pitches. Over all five of his Triple-A starts in 2026, he has a 0.95 ERA with 27 strikeouts, 17 walks, and zero home runs in 19 innings. The walk rate (21.5 BB%) is a genuine concern with a 45 command grade, but the stuff is playing: the 55-grade fastball from a low sidearm slot and a 55-grade sweeper are generating real swing-and-miss at the highest minor league level.
- Tai Peete (AA, OF, Rank: 17) · was placed on the 7-day injured list on August 30. He had been on a tear before going down, hitting 17-for-43 in the 14 days prior. For the season across A+ and Double-A combined, he is slashing .311/.371/.579 with 13 homers and 15 stolen bases in 298 plate appearances.
- Tanner Franklin (AA, RHP, Rank: 28) · struck out 9 over 6 innings before the outing, allowing 3 hits, 2 runs, and 3 walks, with 15 swinging misses. He was placed on the development list on September 2. Over his last five Double-A starts he has a 4.05 ERA with 34 strikeouts in 26.2 innings. The 55-grade four-seamer is the carrying tool; the command (40) keeps the profile from projecting past a back-end starter.
- Sandro Santana (AAA, LHP, Rank: 55) · was promoted to Memphis on September 1, his first time at Triple-A. He posted a 1.04 ERA in 8 games at Double-A Springfield this season after a 2.93 ERA at High-A, so the jump was earned. He has combined for a 1.79 ERA across 55.1 innings at the Double-A level this year.