Cardinals Rookie Joshua Báez Makes MLB History With Three-Homer Debut

MLB debuts are always interesting because there's so much hype surrounding players as they step up to the plate for the first time. But very few, in fact none, have ever been as dominant in their debut as Joshua Báez.

The St. Louis Cardinals rookie played in his first major league game on Saturday and became the first player in MLB history to hit three home runs in his debut, and was the primary reason the Cardinals were able to beat the Chicago Cubs 8-4 at Wrigley Field.

And somehow, the way he did it was even more impressive.

Báez homered on the first pitch he saw as a major leaguer and then went deep in each of his next two at-bats as well. His first three MLB at-bats resulted in three home runs. That's the type of stuff you can't even script.

The 23-year-old has immediately become a phenom, going viral for an incredible accomplishment that has never been done before. And while adjusting to major league pitching can be one of the most difficult transitions in professional sports, the adjustment period certainly looked simple for Báez on Saturday.

That's not to say he's going to produce at this level every single game moving forward. There will undoubtedly be ups and downs as pitchers adjust to him and he continues adjusting to the MLB level.

But when it comes to debuts, Báez just put together one of the best we've ever seen in the history of MLB. For the Cardinals, the hope is that Saturday was just the beginning of what could become a special career for one of the organization's top young players.

Nobody knows what Báez will ultimately become at the major league level. It took Joshua Báez exactly one pitch to announce his presence in MLB, and by the end of his first game, he'd already made baseball history.