Báez Hits Three Home Runs in First Three At-Bats, Setting MLB Record on Debut

Joshua Báez was called up from Triple-A Memphis following Friday's game and put into Saturday's starting lineup against the Cubs. By the time the afternoon was over, he had done something no player in major league history had done before: hit home runs in each of his first three career plate appearances.

The first came on the first pitch he saw — a three-run shot. Two more followed. The Cardinals' No. 3 prospect arrived and immediately made the Velázquez waiver claim look a little less costly. Two days ago I noted the awkwardness of losing a 1.024 OPS outfielder for nothing; Báez at least gives the left field situation a pulse again.

The timing matters. St. Louis is 60-58, two games out of the last wild card with 44 to play. This club has been searching for a jolt in the outfield since Velázquez headed to Houston, and it got one in about as dramatic a fashion as possible. Whether Báez can sustain anything close to this is a separate question entirely — debuts don't predict careers — but for one Saturday in August, the Cardinals got exactly what a contender on the bubble needs.