Joshua Baez Homered in His First Three Major League At-Bats

Joshua Báez had never taken a Major League at-bat before Saturday afternoon. He needed one pitch to put a ball 449 feet into the Wrigley Field bleachers, and by the sixth inning he had done something nobody in the 150-year history of this sport had ever done. Three at-bats, three home runs, five RBIs, and a Cardinals win over the Cubs, 8-4. Not three homers in a game. Three homers in a debut. The list of players who had done that before Saturday was empty. One Pitch, Then Two More The first one came off Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd, a 93.4 mph fastball up in the zone that Báez attacked without hesitation. It left the bat at 108.6 mph and traveled a Statcast-projected 449 feet to dead center. That is the third-longest home run in a debut since ESPN started tracking distances in 2006, behind only Jason Heyward at 476 feet in 2010 and Aaron Judge at 457 feet in 2016. The second came in the third inning, again off Boyd, this time a full-count changeup low in the zone that he pulled 382 feet down the left-field line. That alone made him the ninth player in MLB history to homer twice in his first regular-season game, and only the second player since 1900 to homer in each of his first two career at-bats. The other was Bob Nieman on September 14, 1951. The third came in the sixth, off Boyd for a third time, and he went the other way with it. A 99.8 mph line drive to right field, 368 feet, and history. | Detail | Number | |---|---| | Home runs in debut | 3 (first in MLB history) | | At-bats needed | 3 | | Final line | 3-for-4, 5 RBI, 3 R | | Longest homer | 449 ft, 108.6 mph exit velocity | | Pitcher who allowed all three | Matthew Boyd | | Triple-A home runs in 2026 | 34 (led all of Triple-A) | Three different pitch types. Three different swings. Both directions of the field. That last detail is the one that matters for anyone pricing this kid going forward. Why the Market Should Not Panic Here is where bettors need to be careful. Báez is 23, and the power was never a secret. He arrived in Chicago hitting .256 with 34 home runs, 90 RBIs, 21 stolen bases, and a .901 OPS across 103 games at Triple-A Memphis. Those 34 homers led all of Triple-A and were tied for the second most in the entire minor leagues. The Cardinals had him as their No. 3 prospect per MLB Pipeline, and ESPN's Kiley McDaniel ranked him No. 93 overall. So the power is real. What Saturday does not tell you is anything about how he handles a league that is about to adjust to him. Manager Oliver Marmol said as much before the game, that every player goes through the cycle of arriving at a new level, getting scouted, and then having to counter. Báez already lived that at Triple-A. He was a second-round pick in 2021 who predicted at 18 that he would reach the majors in two years. It took five. Marmol's line about him before the debut was the best scouting report anyone will write: "It doesn't quietly whisper. It screams at you when you watch this kid for any length of time." After the third homer, Marmol's reaction was less polished. He said the last time he stopped mid-game just to appreciate what he was watching was Albert Pujols hitting career home run No. 700. Cubs manager Craig Counsell was blunt about it: "He hit three different pitches for home runs. He had a great game. He beat us, for sure." What This Actually Changes Player prop markets overcorrect on debuts faster than almost anything else. A rookie with a viral first game gets his home run prop and total bases lines inflated immediately, and the number usually stays inflated for a week or two while casual money chases the story. If you were thinking about Báez props for the series finale against the Cubs on Sunday, understand that you are buying at the absolute peak of the hype curve. The 4 p.m. ET window on ABC is going to draw a lot of attention. The more interesting angle is the Cardinals themselves. St. Louis is fighting to stay in the National League postseason race, and Báez is the ninth player to make his MLB debut for the Cardinals this season. That number tells you how much this roster has churned. Adding a legitimate power threat to the middle of the order changes what their team totals should look like, especially in hitter-friendly parks. Marmol put it plainly: "Anytime you can lengthen the lineup, that's the key to this game." Rookie of the Year futures are the third market to watch. Báez will not have enough playing time to win it, and if a number pops up on him at a short price because of one afternoon, that is the market selling a story rather than a projection. SBA Takeaway Saturday was the best debut in the history of baseball, and it still only counts as one game of data. That is the tension every bettor has to hold. The underlying skill was already established in the minors, so this is not a fluke performer. It is a real prospect who happened to have his best possible day on his first day. The practical read is to avoid his props while the number is hot and revisit in two weeks once the league has thrown him some breaking balls out of the zone and the market has cooled. The Cardinals lineup deserves a slightly better projection than it had on Friday, but only slightly. One historic afternoon does not fix a postseason race. His own answer for how he planned to handle the moment was three words: "Just play baseball." Then he did something nobody had ever done. Related Reading - Alex Bregman Hit Three Homers for the First Time in 11 Years - Down Two in the 10th, Herrera Walks Off the Cubs - The Red Sox Just Did Something No Team in MLB History Had Done