Joshua Baez Becomes First Player in MLB History to Hit 3 Home Runs in His Debut

Joshua Báez turned a Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field into one of the most stunning debuts in baseball history. The St. Louis Cardinals outfielder became the first player ever to hit three home runs in his first career game, launching one on the very first pitch he saw and adding two more before the sixth inning was over. St. Louis rode the outburst to an 8-4 win over the Chicago Cubs, and Báez walked away with a 3-for-4 day, five RBIs and a place in the record books that no rookie has ever occupied before him.

Báez, 23, was a second-round pick by the Cardinals in the 2021 Draft, taken 54th overall out of high school in Boston. He spent five years working through the minor league system, including a stretch in Double-A and Triple-A where scouts questioned his contact rate even as the raw power kept teams intrigued. This season, everything clicked at Triple-A Memphis, where the 6-foot-3, 220-pound right fielder hit .256 with a Triple-A-leading 34 home runs, 90 RBIs, 21 stolen bases and a .901 OPS across 103 games. He was red-hot in the weeks before his call-up, going 20-for-58 over his final 15 games at Memphis, and entered Saturday ranked as the No. 59 overall prospect in baseball and the No. 3 prospect in the Cardinals’ system.

A Debut Unlike Any Other

The Cardinals informed Báez less than 24 hours in advance that he was heading to the majors, and he arrived at Wrigley Field on Saturday morning still absorbing the news. He didn’t need long to make an impression. Facing Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd in the top of the first inning, Báez turned on a 93.4 mph fastball and sent it a Statcast-projected 449 feet to dead center field — the third-longest home run in a player’s MLB debut since tracking began in 2006, trailing only Jason Heyward’s 476-foot blast in 2010 and Aaron Judge’s 457-foot shot in 2016. The two-run homer, which left his bat at 108.6 mph, made him the first Cardinals position player to homer on the first pitch of his career since Chris Richard in 2000.

He wasn’t finished. In the fourth inning, Báez worked a full count against Boyd before ripping a changeup 382 feet down the left-field line for a solo shot, making him just the ninth player in MLB history to homer twice in a regular-season debut. Then, in the sixth, he turned on an 83 mph slider and drove it 368 feet over the wall in right field, becoming the first player in major league history to hit three home runs in his debut game — and doing it in his first three career at-bats. According to research from Sarah Langs, Báez became just the second player ever to hit each of his first three MLB home runs in the same game, joining Seby Zavala, who did it in 2021. His only blemish came in his fourth at-bat, when he lined out to left field to close a night that otherwise belonged entirely to him.

What It Means Going Forward

The power surge was hardly a fluke. Báez had three multi-homer games during his time in Memphis this season, including a four-homer outburst in June that he dedicated to a personal loss. His ability to hit for that kind of power against Triple-A pitching made him one of the most closely watched bats in the Cardinals’ farm system, and Saturday’s debut instantly validated the buzz. With St. Louis looking to solidify its outfield mix down the stretch, Báez’s power now forces the coaching staff to find him regular at-bats, whether that means everyday reps in left field or a rotating role as the Cardinals evaluate their roster for the rest of the season.

Fans hoping to follow the Cardinals’ surprising new slugger — or simply looking to get in on the action around his next series — can check the live MLB odds page for updated lines as St. Louis continues its run through August. For bettors wanting to build out a same-game strategy around his next appearance, Hello Rookie’s betting calculator can help map out potential returns before placing a wager. Báez’s story, from a two-years-to-the-majors prediction he made as an 18-year-old at Busch Stadium to a historic afternoon at Wrigley Field five years later, is only just beginning, and after Saturday, all of baseball will be watching his next at-bat.