Joshua Báez had an MLB debut for the ages on Saturday. He hit three home runs with his family in the stands at Wrigley Field, starting by going 449 feet on the first pitch he saw. It truly doesn’t get any better than that.
Here’s a look at seven stats and facts from a historic debut.
• Báez is the first player in MLB history to hit three home runs in his MLB debut. Think about that. There have been more than 23,000 players in MLB history, for context, and none had done this until Báez on Saturday.
• It wasn’t just three homers. Báez homered in each of his first three career at-bats. He’s, unsurprisingly, the first player to do that. His second homer made him just the second player to homer in his first two career at-bats in one game, joining Bob Nieman on Sept. 14, 1951 for the St. Louis Browns and the third player overall, with Keith McDonald doing so July 4-6, 2000 for the Cardinals. That’s right -- three players have homered in their first two career MLB at-bats, and all three have been for St. Louis teams. Baseball is the best.
• Those first three home runs of a career typically don’t come all at once, regardless of whether in a player’s debut or not. Báez is only the second player to hit each of his first three home runs in the same game at all, joining Seby Zavala on July 31, 2021, in his 18th career game.
• The previous earliest into a career that a player recorded a three-homer game was in his 10th game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. That had been done twice, by Aristides Aquino on Aug. 10, 2019 and Bobby Estalella on Sept. 4, 1997. Now? That record is first career game.
• Even a multi-homer debut is a rarity. Báez became just the ninth player in MLB history with at least two homers in his first career regular-season game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Incredibly, it’s the third time it’s happened this year, with Báez joining José Fernández on March 31 and Chase DeLauter on March 26 (after debuting in the postseason). Prior to this year, there were six instances: Trevor Story on April 4, 2016, J.P. Arencibia on Aug. 7, 2010, Mark Quinn on Sept. 14, 1999, Bert Campaneris on July 23, 1964, Nieman on Sept. 14, 1951 and Charlie Reilly on Oct. 9, 1889. But again, none of them had hit three in those games, until Báez came along.
• It would have been notable even if Báez had stopped at one home run. He became the 11th player in Cardinals history to homer in his first career at-bat. He was the first Cardinals player to homer on the first pitch of his first career at-bat since Adam Wainwright on May 24, 2006.
• As noted above, Báez sent that first pitch 449 feet. Of the five players to homer on their first pitch of their first at-bat in the Statcast era (since 2015), Báez’s went the farthest. Quite the way to introduce yourself to the Majors.