Missions’ player Baez named Texas League Pitcher of the Month

Minor League Baseball announced that San Antonio Missions starter Henry Baez is the Texas League Pitcher of the Month for June.

Baez went 1-1 with a 1.13 ERA in five starts across June, allowing just three earned runs on 14 hits and seven walks with 23 strikeouts over 24.0 innings. Those three runs all came in one inning on June 8, and he held opponents to a .175 average. Baez tied his career-high with 10 strikeouts on June 20 against Frisco, and he ended the month with a streak of 17.1 scoreless innings.

Baez is 22 years old, and he signed with the San Diego Padres as an international free agent out of San Cristobal, Dominican Republic almost exactly six years ago on July 2, 2019. MLB Pipeline ranks him as the No. 12 prospect in the Padres’ organization, and he is the lone Mission currently on the Padres’ 40-man roster.

For Baez, this is the first monthly award of his career, but he is no stranger to accolades. The San Diego Padres named him their Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2024 as he went 7-4 with a 2.99 ERA in 26 starts. Nine of those starts came with the Missions after he got called up from High-A Fort Wayne, and Baez went 5-1 with a 3.06 ERA while walking 15 and striking out 51 across 50 Double-A innings. Baez also won Midwest League Pitcher of the Week in July of 2024 with Fort Wayne.

So far this season, Baez is 2-2 with a 2.38 ERA in 16 starts. He has walked 25 and struck out 73 while limiting hitters to a .210 batting average in 75.2 innings.

Baez is the first Mission to win a Player of the Month award this season, but three Missions— Ripken Reyes, Devin Ortiz and Francisco Acuña—have won Player of the Week awards.