Five years ago the St. Louis Cardinals drafted Joshua Baez and began his long developmental road to Major League Baseball. Well, that road finally made a stop in an MLB game and Baez immediately proved that he was worth the investment.
In today's game between the Cardinals and the home team Chicago Cubs, Baez made his debut after being called up by manager Oli Marmol the day before. And on the first pitch of his first at-bat, Baez knocked the ball out of Wrigley Field, sending it 463 feet and driving Alec Burleson in to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.
Three innings later, after the Cubs had tied the game 3-3, Baez smashed his sixth pitch another 392 feet into deep left, over the wall for a solo home run and a 4-3 lead. Two innings later, he extended that lead to 6-3 with another home run - 399 feet into centerfield - that sent Burleson to the plate again.
With that home run, Baez became the first player in MLB history to record home runs on each of his first three career at-bats.
Unfortunately, Baez was unable to make it a perfect four-for-four on the day. He lined out off a slider in the eighth inning, ending his streak of home runs at three.
The Cardinals went on to win the game 8-4.
Cheers for Baez
MLB fans are already predicting great things for Baez after such an incredible debut. Some jokingly believe that the Los Angeles Dodgers are already preparing to make a move for him.
"Random drug test coming immediately after this game," one user on X joked.
"How can you not be romantic about baseball?" another asked.
"Annnnndddd…He’s on the Dodgers," joked a third.
"Joshua Baez is on pace to pass Vladimir Guerrero Jr in homers tomorrow."
"Someone’s getting a UT tomorrow."
Baez has shown throughout his minor league stint that he has skills. This year with the Memphis Redbirds alone he has 34 home runs, 105 hits, 90 RBIs and a .256 batting average in 103 games.
After today's performance, the Redbirds probably won't be seeing him until his next injury assignment at best.
