Joshua Báez saw his first big-league pitch on Saturday and turned it into a souvenir. The Cardinals' No. 3 prospect, called up to make his debut against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, crushed the very first pitch he ever saw in the majors 449 feet to center field at 108.6 mph off the bat. That's not a warm welcome to the show, that's kicking the door down.
Báez's first career pitch left the yard, with the Statcast graphic confirming 108.6 mph exit velocity and 449 feet of distance.
Báez was a 2021 second-round pick who spent this season raking at Triple-A Memphis, leading the level with 34 home runs, 90 RBIs and 21 steals while slashing.256/.328/.573. That kind of production is exactly why the Cardinals ranked him their No. 3 prospect and why the call-up carried real hype walking into Wrigley. He didn't need long to justify it — Michael Conforto answered right back for the Cubs with a home run of his own that tied the game at 3-3, a reminder that Chicago wasn't just going to stand around and admire the kid.
Conforto's response homer, his 10th of the season, tied the score at 3-3 with a 107.1 mph shot.
That tie didn't last. Báez came back up and did it again, this time a 382-foot blast that put St. Louis back on top. Two homers in two at-bats to open a career is already absurdly rare — reportedly only Bob Nieman in 1951 and the Cardinals' own Keith McDonald in 2000 had ever managed that much. Then Báez batted a third time and never let the ball touch the ground either, sending a 368-foot shot out to make it 6-3 and complete something no player in MLB history had ever done: home runs in each of his first three career at-bats.
Báez rounds the bases after his third straight home run to open his career, with the scoreboard showing Cardinals 6, Cubs 3.
All three homers reportedly came against Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd, which is presumably the joke behind Big Cat's crack that people are calling Báez a "Matthew Boyd merchant" — a nod to how thoroughly one pitcher got worked over on the day his opponent decided to introduce himself to the league. Eric Hubbs, watching from the stands, was already lobbying for a fourth at-bat to get national coverage, and fans in the outfield were fighting over the balls themselves — one guy reportedly had his return throw ready before Báez had even touched first.
It's the kind of debut that gets replayed for years, the sort of thing that makes a Triple-A stat line feel like ancient history within three swings. Nobody in the sport's long history had ever opened a career with three straight home runs, and Báez did it in front of a hostile Wrigley crowd that spent the back half of the game applauding him anyway. The Cardinals now have to figure out how to build a lineup around a guy who just made his entire résumé in one afternoon.