On Saturday, August 15, 2026, Joshua Báez turned his Major League debut into the most explosive first game any player has had in the last 125 years. The 23-year-old outfielder hit three home runs in his first three at-bats for the St. Louis Cardinals — something no player had managed since modern baseball records began in 1901. Not one.
Three pitchers’ counts, three home runs — here’s how it happened
Báez didn’t do it against a weak opponent or off a single pitch type. All three blasts came off left-hander Matthew Boyd: a 93.4 mph fastball in the first inning, a changeup in the fourth, and a slider in the sixth. Opposite fields, hard stuff, off-speed — he handled all of it exactly the way scouts had been saying he would.
The first home run traveled 449 feet to center field on the very first pitch he saw in the big leagues. That shot ranks as the third-longest home run in an MLB debut since ESPN began tracking distances in 2006, trailing only Jason Heyward (476 feet, 2010) and Aaron Judge (457 feet, 2016).
Báez finished the game 3-for-4 with five RBI. The Cardinals won 8-4 and improved to 62-61, pulling within three games of the National League’s third Wild Card spot.
In the Wrigley Field stands, 30 of his family members watched it all unfold — including his mother, Yris, who was there to see every swing.
125 seasons, hundreds of thousands of games — and nobody had done this
MLB clarified that the record applies to the modern era, meaning from 1901 onward, since complete records before that year don’t exist. That caveat doesn’t shrink what happened: across more than 125 seasons and countless games, no debut player had ever gone deep in each of his first three plate appearances. Báez is the first.
He arrived at this moment after a Triple-A season that was already impossible to overlook: a .256 average, 34 home runs (the Triple-A lead), 90 RBI, 21 stolen bases, and a .901 OPS in 103 games with the Memphis Redbirds. Back in June, he had hit four home runs in a single game against Nashville — the first player in Memphis franchise history to do that.
Manager Oliver Marmol put him in the lineup the same day he was called up. It didn’t take long to understand why.
More records: Pujols, Starlin Castro, and a protected service clock
Báez’s five RBI on debut are the most by any player making his MLB debut since Starlin Castro — ironically a Cub — drove in six on May 7, 2010. He also surpassed Albert Pujols as the youngest Cardinal to hit three home runs in a single game: Báez did it at 23; Pujols was 24 years and 186 days old when he achieved the same feat.
The timing of the call-up on August 14 was no accident either. With 44 days left in the season, Báez won’t accumulate the 45 service days that would burn a year of his rookie status — keeping him eligible for 2027 Rookie of the Year consideration while the Cardinals get what they need right now.
Dominican roots, Boston upbringing, and a team that needs him
Báez was born in Boston, grew up in Santo Domingo until age 11, returned to the Dorchester neighborhood, and was selected in the second round of the 2021 Draft (54th overall) out of a high school in Brookline, Massachusetts. He’s Dominican-American through and through — and in the Dominican Republic, they already claim him as their own. He plays for Escogido in the LIDOM winter league.
The Cardinals are at 62-61 and fighting for a playoff spot. The question is no longer whether Báez belongs in the majors. The question is how many more home runs he hits before the regular season ends.
