Cardinals rookie Joshua Báez homers in each of his first three MLB plate appearances

St. Louis Cardinals rookie outfielder Joshua Báez made major league history in his debut Saturday, homering in each of his first three career plate appearances against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. ESPN reported Báez is the first player in MLB history to homer in his first three major league plate appearances.

That made the moment more than a memorable debut. Homering in a first big-league plate appearance is uncommon on its own; doing it three straight times put Báez into territory that, as widely reported Saturday, no player had reached before in the majors.

Báez, a left fielder, was making his first appearance for St. Louis after entering pro ball as the Cardinals’ second-round pick in 2021, No. 54 overall. He had already been viewed as one of the organization’s more notable young players, with MLB.com prospect coverage ranking him among the Cardinals prospects to watch entering the 2026 season.

The power display did not come entirely out of nowhere. In mid-June, while playing for Triple-A Memphis, Báez hit four home runs in one game, a breakout performance highlighted by MLB.com and MLB Pipeline as part of his climb toward the majors. Saturday’s debut at Wrigley was a far bigger stage, but it fit the recent pattern of a prospect whose power had become impossible to ignore.

For general readers, the distinction here is the scale of the first impression. Plenty of players have arrived in the majors with prospect hype, and some have homered in their first game. Báez’s feat stands out because it came in his first three trips to the plate, turning a routine debut story into a nationally notable statistical first.

The closest historical comparisons commonly cited are players who homered in their first two major league at-bats: Bob Nieman in 1951 and Keith McDonald in 2000. Báez, according to ESPN’s reporting, went a step beyond those precedents with a three-homer start to his career, giving the Cardinals rookie one of the most unusual opening acts the sport has seen.