Joshua Baez, a standout baseball player with roots in the Dominican Republic and Dorchester, was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the second round of the Major League Baseball draft on Monday afternoon. Baez, who graduated from Brookline’s Dexter-Southfield in May, was the 54th overall pick. It is not yet clear whether the 18-year-old, a two-way player (pitcher and outfielder) will sign with the Cardinals organization or go with his existing plan to attend Vanderbilt University, which boasts one of the nation’s top collegiate baseball programs.

According to a report published on FoxSports, Baez was born in Boston, but lived most of his younger years in Santo Domingo, returning to Dorchester at age 11. At 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, he plays center field and takes the mound, too. He can throw a 98-mph fast ball and regularly jacks towering home runs in the Boston Park League, where he is playing this summer for the Boston Blue Jays.

“I can throw hard off the mound, but the bat is what I put my money on,” Baez told a St. Louis TV station on Monday.