Rookies have wasted no time making noise in 2026, and the latest pair to jump into the club did it with authority.
On Tuesday, the Mariners’ Lazaro Montes and the Nationals’ Yohandy Morales both homered in their Major League debuts, pushing the season total to 15 rookies who have gone deep in their first career games. That sets a new single-season record, topping the previous mark of 13 from 2022.
Montes, MLB Pipeline’s No. 56 overall prospect, helped Seattle to a 9-6 win at Fenway Park by going 2-for-4 with a walk and driving a ball to dead center for a fifth-inning homer. Morales put together an even louder line in Washington’s 9-5 victory over the Braves, finishing 3-for-5 and falling a triple shy of the cycle while adding a solo shot in the third inning.
They’re the first players since Joshua Báez’s historic three-homer debut for the Cardinals on Aug. 15 to homer in their first Major League game.
A handful of other rookies had already announced themselves on Opening Day, when JJ Wetherholt of the Cardinals, Carson Benge of the Mets, Munetaka Murakami of the White Sox and Chase DeLauter of the Guardians all went deep in their debuts on March 26. DeLauter’s path has been a little different - he debuted in the 2025 postseason, then homered twice in his first regular-season game. He, Báez and Arizona’s Jose Fernandez, who debuted on March 31, are the only players this season with multiple homers in their debuts.
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