Joshua Báez announced himself to Major League Baseball with brutal clarity at Wrigley Field on Saturday, becoming the first player in modern baseball history to hit a home run in each of his first three at-bats and powering the St Louis Cardinals to an 8–4 win over the Chicago Cubs. Called up that morning from Triple-A Memphis, the 23-year-old outfielder needed just one pitch to leave his mark.
Báez arrived in Chicago as one of the hottest power bats in the minor leagues. He had been leading all Triple-A hitters with 34 home runs and had already stacked up four multihomer games this season before the Cardinals decided his time had come. St Louis manager Oliver Marmol threw him straight into the line-up, and within hours Báez had rewritten the record books in a way that seasoned veterans spend careers chasing.
