Edgardo Báez

Edgardo J. Báez

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 190 lb.

• High School Escuela Superior Jose Santos Alegria

• Born July 12, 1985 in Bayamón Puerto Rico

BR register page

Biographical Information

Edgardo Báez played nine years in the minors, peaking at AA, then won a Gold Medal with the Puerto Rican national team.

He was taken by the Montréal Expos in the 4th round of the 2003 amateur draft, two picks after Michael Bourn. The scout was Delvy Santiago. He hit .274/.323/.427 that summer with the GCL Expos. In 2004, he was with the Savannah Sand Gnats (.173/.259/.304 in 50 G) and Vermont Expos (.248/.332/.424 in 46 G). He tied Clyde Williams for 7th in the Expo chain with 12 home runs. He made his winter debut with the Gigantes de Carolina of the Puerto Rican League. In 2005, he hit .246/.329/.394 for Savannah, with 6 triples, 11 home runs, 11 steals in 15 tries and 55 walks. He had 12 outfield assists but 9 errors.

Báez played for the Potomac Nationals (.103/.197/.221 in 20 G) and Savannah (.279/.336/.403 in 94 G) in 2006. In 2007, hit .278/.366/.437 for Potomac. He had 13 outfield assists. He improved that total to 15 in 2008, which he spent with the Nationals (.286/.366/.514 in 73 G) and Harrisburg Senators (.246/.311/.347 in 56 G). For the year, he had 31 doubles and 14 home runs. He was 4th in the Washington Nationals chain in doubles and tied for 9th in homers with Aaron Seuss, Yurendell de Caster and Mike Daniel. In the California League/Carolina League All-Star Game, he won MVP after his 8th-inning homer off Jesse English broke a 1-1 tie. He followed with a .238/.262/.288 winter for Carolina.

For the 2009 Senators, he hit .254/.314/.406 and had 13 assists, two shy of Eastern League leader Brennan Boesch. He had a big winter for the Criollos de Caguas at .329/.392/.486. He was 8th in average (between Orlando Mercado Jr. and Phillip Cuadrado), tied Jesús Feliciano for 3rd in runs (27), tied Michel Abreu for 4th in hits (46), tied Jorge Padilla and Raúl Casanova for 6th in RBI (23), was 5th in slugging (between Luis Montanez and Pedro Valdés) and was 8th in OPS (between Montanez and Feliciano). Reinforcing the Indios de Mayagüez for the 2010 Caribbean Series, he hit .214/.214/.286. He had a rough summer with the Senators (.259/.330/.344 in 82 G) and Nationals (.263/.442/.333 in 18 G), only hitting 3 homers and driving in 34.

The next winter, he batted .279/.383/.426 for the Criollos. He was out of the minors in 2011. He had a better winter in 2011-2012: .323/.397/.423. He was 5th in average (between Jeff Dominguez and Hiram Bocachica), 5th in OBP (between Dominguez and Valdés), 8th in slugging, 7th in OPS (between John Rodriguez and Edgard Clemente) and 4th in hits (42). He again played for the Indios in the Caribbean Series but was 0 for 13 with a walk and 7 whiffs in the 2012 Caribbean Series. In 2012, he played for the Broncos de Reynosa (.203/.254/.305 in 15 G) and Bowie Baysox (1 for 6, BB). His struggles continued that winter with Caguas (.225/.306/.372). He was 1 for 6 in the 2013 Caribbean Series but with 3 walks and a double (the hit coming off Jean Toledo). He had a stint with the 2013 Bridgeport Bluefish but hit .226/.222/.302 in 14 games.

Edgardo rebounded in 2013-2014 with Caguas at .281/.396/.404 while playing error-free ball. Had he qualified for the OBP lead, he would have tied Jon Singleton for 8th. He fell to .189/.302/.270 for the 2014-2015 Criollos. He played left field for Puerto Rico in the 2015 Pan American Games and produced at a .240/.345/.400 clip with 6 RBI in 7 games. In the Bronze Medal Game, he came up in the 4th with a 3-0 deficit against Cuba and hit a grand slam off Lázaro Blanco but Puerto Rico failed to hold the lead. He tied for 10th in the Games in RBI.

He ended his Puerto Rican League career seemingly with the 2015-2016 Cangrejeros de Santurce, hitting .233/.303/.367. He finished his minor league career at .252/.329/.395 in 778 games, with 70 homers and 359 RBI. He got another shot at a medal with Puerto Rico at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games and the team came through on this occasion, winning Gold, though he did not fare as well as in the 2015 Pan American Games. The team's oldest outfielder, he started in left and batted .200/.238/.200 with one RBI and no runs in six games while handling nine putouts error-free.