Youngest players to homer in postseason

Andruw Jones leads pack with 3 homers in 1996 playoffs at age 19

October 4th, 2023

The Rangers' is one of several rookies who have come out swinging in the 2023 postseason.

After going 2-for-2 with two doubles, two walks and a steal in his playoff debut to help Texas defeat Tampa Bay in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series, Carter hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning of Game 2.

At 21 years and 36 days old, Carter is one of the youngest players to homer in postseason history. In fact, only 10 players have gone deep in the playoffs at a younger age.

1. Andruw Jones
Homers: 1996 NLCS Game 7 (19 years, 177 days), 1996 World Series Game 1 (two; 19 years, 180 days)
The supremely talented Jones earned several distinctions during his first foray into October, becoming the youngest to homer in both the postseason and in the World Series. Jones' first dinger came as part of a Braves barrage in Game 7 of the NLCS as they completed a comeback from down three games to one against St. Louis.

Jones stayed hot three nights later, homering twice off Andy Pettite and Brian Boehringer to make Fall Classic history in the Braves' 12-1 rout of the Yankees in Game 1.

2. Bryce Harper
Homers:
2012 NLDS Game 5 (19 years, 362 days)
Fresh off winning the NL Rookie of the Year Award, the highly regarded Harper tripled in the Nationals' first run off Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright in the first inning of the decisive Game 5, and then sent the home crowd into a frenzy with a solo blast to lead off the third.

Unfortunately, Harper's big day was overshadowed by Washington's collapse as the Nationals blew a 6-0 lead and saw their season end with a 9-7 St. Louis victory.

3. Manny Machado
Homers: 2012 ALDS Game 3 (20 years, 96 days)
Machado's fifth-inning tater off Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda came in a big moment, giving the Orioles a 2-1 lead midway through the swing contest of the series with the teams tied at one game apiece. But like Harper, Machado was overshadowed by Yankees veteran Raul Ibanez, who hit two homers -- including a 12th-inning walk-off shot -- that gave New York momentum in its eventual five-game triumph.

4. Miguel Cabrera
Homers: 2003 NLCS Game 1 (20 years, 172 days), 2003 NLCS Game 2 (20 years, 173 days), 2003 NLCS Game 7 (20 years, 180 days), 2003 World Series Game 4 (20 years, 187 days)
It's hard to imagine the Marlins making their storybook run in the fall of 2003 without a breakout from Cabrera, who showed the first glimpses of the immense hitting talent that would define his Hall of Fame-caliber career. Cabrera's homer yielders included aces Carlos Zambrano, Mark Prior and Kerry Wood in Florida's topsy-turvy NLCS triumph, but his most impressive homer came in the World Series. After Roger Clemens threw a heater up and in to Cabrera in Game 4, the 20-year-old kept grinding and took the Yankees' ace deep on the seventh pitch of the at-bat. The Marlins gutted out a 12-inning victory that night and went on to shock the Yankees in six games.

5. Wander Franco
Homers: 2021 ALDS Game 3 (20 years, 223 days), 2021 ALDS Game 4 (20 years, 224 days)
Franco entered the 2021 season as baseball's consensus No. 1 overall prospect and continued cementing his status as a future star in October. The phenom clobbered an opposite-field home run over Fenway Park's famous Green Monster for his second hit of the game and sixth of the postseason, making him the only 20-year-old or younger player with multiple hits in his first three postseason games.

He followed that up with an encore performance in Game 4 of the ALDS, blasting a two-run shot over the center field wall to become the fifth player age 20 or younger to homer in back-to-back postseason games.

6. Ronald Acuña Jr.
Homers: 2018 NLDS Game 3 (20 years, 293 days)
Acuña became the youngest player to hit a grand slam in a postseason game, punctuating the Braves' five-run second inning with a towering shot against Buehler at SunTrust Park. It marked the Braves' first grand slam in the playoffs since Adam LaRoche in Game 4 of the 2005 NLDS and the first of Acuna's career.

7. Juan Soto
Homers: 2019 NLDS Game 3 (20 years, 346 days), 2019 NLDS Game 5 (20 years, 349 days), 2019 World Series Game 1 (20 years, 363 days), 2019 World Series Game 5 (21 years, 2 days), 2019 World Series Game 6 (21 years, 4 days)
Soto had an incredible 2019 regular season, then took his game to another level on the national postseason stage. At just 20 years old, he clubbed a pair of homers in Washington's NLDS victory over the Dodgers. Soto then added another in Game 1 of the World Series, then -- after celebrating his 21st birthday on the same day as Game 3 of the Fall Classic -- the 21-year-old tacked on two more homers to help close out the Nationals' World Series title.

8. Rafael Devers
Homers: 2017 ALDS Game 3 (20 years, 349 days), 2017 ALDS Game 4 (20 years, 350 days)
As a rookie in 2017, Devers went deep twice for the Red Sox in the ALDS against the eventual-champion Astros. His first long ball was a two-run, go-ahead shot off Francisco Liriano in Game 3 that helped Boston avoid elimination and force a Game 4. Devers homered again in that contest, knocking an inside-the-parker in the ninth inning that pulled Boston to within one run. It was the 17th inside-the-park home run in postseason history and first since Alcides Escobar's in Game 1 of the 2015 World Series.

9. Mickey Mantle
Homers:
1952 World Series Game 6 (20 years, 352 days), 1952 World Series Game 7 (20 years, 353 days)
Mantle hit 18 postseason home runs in his Hall of Fame career. The first two came as a fresh-faced 20-year-old in the 1952 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers and helped deliver the Yankees their 15th title. Mantle went deep in the eighth inning for a solo homer that ended up being the deciding run in Game 6, then hit a go-ahead blast in the sixth inning of New York's title-clinching Game 7 victory.

10. Carlos Correa
Homers: 2015 ALDS Game 4 (two; 21 years, 20 days)
Correa became the youngest player in AL history with a multihomer playoff game (behind only Jones for youngest overall) when he went deep twice for Houston in a losing effort in Game 4 of the 2015 ALDS. Correa, the AL's Rookie of the Year that season, homered off Royals starter Yordano Ventura in the second, then repeated the feat in the third.