Uh-oh.
Don’t look now, but the latest, greatest power sideshow in baseball is coming to Cincinnati this week after the most jaw-dropping debut in MLB history.
“Hopefully he got it out (of his system),” Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson said. “Hopefully he can cool off these next four days that we get him.”
“He,” of course, is Joshua Báez, the St. Louis Cardinals’ top prospect, who on Saturday (Aug.15) at Wrigley Field delivered a debut for the ages – that age being 23.
Báez hit the first big-league pitch he saw for a 439-foot home run to center, then added a home run to left in his second at-bat and another to right for the first three-homer debut in big-league history.
Until then, only one player in history had hit homers in his first two big-league at-bats: Withrow High product Bob Nieman, for the St. Louis Browns in 1951.
“Pretty impressive,” Reds manager Terry Francona said.
“That’s starting your career out with a bang,” Reds lefty Andrew Abbott said. “Literally.”
More like a Bang! Bang! Bang!
“That’s crazy,” Reds starter Brady Singer said.
Next up: Báez brings the smoke show – 37 home runs in 104 games overall this year – to the cozy confines of Great American Ball Park.
“There’ll be some other people, too,” Francona suggested.
Maybe some of them will even play along with the Cards’ outfield phenom. But nobody brings the same fanfare and attention of all eyes in baseball for these five games in four days in Cincinnati the rest of the kid’s first week in the majors. Not after that debut.
“The good thing for us is there’s not really many directions you can go after that except for down,” Reds closer Emilio Pagán said. ”I hope the best for him and his career. What an incredible way to start. Unbelievable.”
Things tend to even out in baseball over time, too. Like, maybe over a week?
“Well, we hope so,” Pagán said.
All-Star Chase Burns, who starts the series finale for the Reds this week, said he plans to deal with Báez “like every other hitter. See what the game plan is and attack him from there.
“He’s human.”
Easy for him to say. Burns, whose arsenal is the pitching version of Báez’s power, is a Cy Young candidate with a 14-2 record and 2.47 ERA.
“Just figure out a way to get him out. That’s the name of the game,” Abbott said.
Besides, he added, “He’ll slow down eventually.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Get a load of the next MLB flavor-of-the-month phenom to visit GABP
Reporting by Gordon Wittenmyer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Gordon Wittenmyer, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
