The Cardinals called up Joshua Baez on August 15, their No. 3 prospect and MLB Pipeline's No. 59 overall, to make his debut at Wrigley Field. He didn't wait long to make a statement.
On the very first pitch he saw as a big leaguer, Baez turned on a Matthew Boyd offering and drove it 449 feet to dead center for a two-run shot, an exit velocity north of 108 mph. It made him the 11th player in Cardinals history to homer in his first at-bat, and the first since Lane Thomas back in 2019.
IMAGINE HITTING A 449-FOOT HOME RUN ON THE VERY FIRST PITCH YOU FACED IN THE BIG LEAGUES https://t.co/51VEfymeqH
That alone would've been a career-defining moment. Instead it was just the opener. Baez came back up and hit another one, becoming just the third player in MLB history to homer in each of his first two career at-bats.
THIRD PLAYER EVER TO HOMER IN HIS FIRST TWO BIG LEAGUE AT BATS! https://t.co/rHUGjLjrkV
Then he did it again. A third home run in a third plate appearance made Baez the first player in MLB history to go deep in each of his first three career at-bats — one to left, one to center, one to right, according to Jeff Passan. Codify Baseball noted his career OPS after those three trips to the plate sat at an absurd 5.000, the highest in MLB history through a minimum of three plate appearances.
HISTORY FOR JOSHUA BAEZ! HE’S THE FIRST PLAYER IN MLB HISTORY TO HOMER IN HIS FIRST THREE CAREER AT-BATS! https://t.co/QdBFtonZur
This wasn't some out-of-nowhere flash. Baez led all of Triple-A with 34 home runs this season for Memphis, hitting.256 with a.901 OPS, 90 RBIs and 21 stolen bases across 103 games before the call-up. The Cardinals took him in the second round of the 2021 draft, and by his own admission he expected to reach the majors within two years of being picked — it just took a little longer than that to arrive with this kind of bang.
His Memphis teammates were watching along with everyone else, and the reaction said it all — a room full of guys who know exactly how hard this game is, watching one of their own rewrite the record book in real time.
Joshua Baez’s Triple-A teammates watching him make history in his MLB debut. Beautiful stuff https://t.co/LuYnSpK4Rd
The Cardinals have been quietly stockpiling young talent — JJ Wetherholt, Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson and Ivan Herrera are all already part of the core — and Baez's arrival gives St. Louis another potential middle-of-the-order bat to build around down the stretch. If this is any indication of what's coming, the Cardinals' outfield picture for 2027 just got a lot more interesting.