The Cardinals didn’t just get a debut Saturday. They got a jolt, a headline, and a place in baseball history.
Joshua Baez, the 2021 second-round pick making his first big-league appearance against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, launched three home runs and became the first player ever to go deep three times in his MLB debut. He did it in his first three at-bats, and each blast went to a different part of the park: left, center and right.
Baez wasted no time announcing himself. In the top of the first, Matthew Boyd’s very first pitch to him in the majors ended up 449 feet away in center field, giving St.
Louis a 3-0 lead. Baez smiled as he circled the bases for his first career homer.
He wasn’t finished.
Back up in the fourth, with Boyd still pitching, Baez worked a 3-2 count and then turned on another pitch, sending it into left field to break a 3-3 tie with a solo shot. By then, the debut was already something people would be talking about for a long time. Then he made it even more absurd in the sixth, when he lifted a ball just over the wall in right field for his third homer of the day.
That third swing gave him five RBIs in the game before he lined out to left field in his fourth at-bat. It also put him in a class by himself.
Sarah Langs noted that Baez became the second player to hit each of his first three MLB home runs in the same game, joining Seby Zavala in 2021 - but Zavala did it in his 18th MLB game. Baez did it on debut.
There was more than just the numbers, too. Baez had family and friends in the crowd to watch the night unfold, and the images from the game showed just how much that meant.
Baez’s arrival fits the kind of power production he had been showing in Triple-A. He entered the call-up as the Cardinals’ No. 3 prospect, behind pitcher Liam Doyle and catcher/first baseman Rainiel Rodriguez.
MLB.com gave his power tool a 60 grade and wrote that “his raw power remains plus-plus, and he could challenge for 30-plus homers” in the majors. He also brings speed and has been used in center field in the minors.
The call-up came after a massive Triple-A run in 2026. Baez led all minor-league players with 34 home runs before reaching the majors, with 21 stolen bases as well. His 136 strikeouts also placed him among the minor-league leaders.
Saturday’s outburst also put him on a short list of debut power hitters. According to Sarah Langs, Baez became just the ninth player to hit two home runs in an MLB regular-season debut, and he now stands alone as the only player with three.
Other rookies who went deep twice in their first game this season were Jose Fernandez of the Diamondbacks and Chase DeLauter of the Guardians. The all-time list of players with the most home runs in an MLB debut now starts with Baez at three, followed by Fernandez, DeLauter, Trevor Story, J.P.
Arencibia, Mark Quinn, Bert Campaneris, Bob Nieman and Charlie Reilly at two.
And if anyone was wondering about the name: Joshua Baez is not related to Tigers infielder Javier Baez.
He’s 23 years old, and he turns 24 on June 28, 2027.
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