You can't have a better start to your career than Joshua Báez. Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field (GameTracker), the St. Louis Cardinals left fielder became the first player in major league history to hit three home runs in his MLB debut, and he did it in his first three at-bats, too.
The first homer came on the very pitch Báez saw in the show. Báez hit his first home run, a mammoth 449-foot blast, halfway up the bleachers in center. He hit his second home run to left field and his third to right field.
That's impressive all-fields power for any player, let alone a rookie making his MLB debut. Here are Báez's three home runs: All three home runs came off Chicago Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd and it was surprising that manager Craig Counsell left Boyd in to face Báez a third time. He'd already taken him deep twice in a close game (4-3 Cardinals at the time), and Boyd was approaching 90 pitches.
Boyd surrendered another homer to Jordan Walker soon after Báez's third shot. Báez is the eighth player in baseball's Modern Era (since 1900) to hit multiple homers in his regular-season MLB debut, and the third this season. Cleveland Guardians outfielder Chase DeLauter did it on Opening Day, though he technically made his debut last postseason.
Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Jose Fernandez also hit two homers in his MLB debut on March 31. Here are the eight players with at least two home runs in their MLB debuts: Nieman and Keith McDonald are the only players other than Báez to hit home runs in their first two MLB at-bats. Nieman did it with the St.
Louis Browns on Sept. 14, 1951. McDonald hit two homers in his first two at-bats with the Cardinals in 2000, but across two games. He hit a pinch-hit homer in his first at-bat on July 4, then went deep in his first at-bat two days later.
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