{"id":858643,"date":"2026-08-17T16:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T16:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/858643\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T16:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T16:24:16","slug":"best-debut-in-mlb-history-plus-rip-tommy-john","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/858643\/","title":{"rendered":"Best debut in MLB history? Plus: RIP, Tommy John"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Windup Newsletter \u26be | This is The Athletic\u2019s MLB<\/a> newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive The Windup directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve never seen a debut like Joshua B\u00e1ez\u2019s on Saturday. Plus: The trade deadline did\u00a0not\u00a0clarify things in the American League, Jake Rogers is on a uniform collection quest and Tyler Kepner has our obituary for Tommy John, who passed away on Saturday.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Levi Weaver \u2014 welcome to The Windup.<\/p>\n

Big Swings: That 3-homer B\u00e1ez debut<\/p>\n

Cardinals outfielder\u00a0Joshua B\u00e1ez\u2019s one-of-one debut was special from the very first big-league pitch he ever saw,\u00a0which he blasted 449 feet to center field.\u00a0But that had been done before \u2014 the 23-year-old prospect was the 140th player since 1900 to homer in his first big-league at-bat (the 13th just this year) and the 33rd to do it\u00a0on the first pitch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When he homered to left field in the fourth inning, that rarified the air quite a bit: He became the eighth player since 1900 to hit\u00a0two\u00a0home runs in his debut, and only the second to do it in his first two at-bats (Bob Nieman, 1951).<\/p>\n

But in the sixth inning,\u00a0when he hit his\u00a0third home run\u00a0in his\u00a0third big-league at-bat?!\u00a0Well, now.\u00a0That\u00a0is a\u00a0truly unprecedented feat<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Like any good baseball story, there\u2019s also a backstory. On June 17, 2023, Joshua\u2019s dad, Jose Manuel, passed away. Three years later, to the day, Joshua\u00a0hit\u00a0four\u00a0home runs in a game<\/a>\u00a0for the Triple-A Memphis Cardinals. Two months later, he was breaking an MLB record. Patrick Mooney\u00a0spoke to B\u00e1ez and his family<\/a>\u00a0about the unforgettable debut and Jose, of which Baez said, \u201cI just know that he\u2019s super proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Have you noticed we\u2019ve had a lot of big-time debuts this year?<\/p>\n

Ten days before B\u00e1ez, Guardians infielder\u00a0Angel Genao\u00a0became the 22nd player since 1900 to log\u00a0four hits in his big-league debut<\/a>. Tigers infielder\u00a0Kevin McGonigle\u00a0was the 21st, doing it on Opening Day.<\/p>\n

And those eight players who have hit multiple home runs in their MLB debut?\u00a0Three did it this year.\u00a0B\u00e1ez, Chase DeLauter (Guardians, April 26) and Jose Fernandez (Diamondbacks, April 31) made history for the first time since 2016 (Trevor Story).<\/p>\n

The list of 207 players* who have debuted this year also includes George Lombard Jr. (Yankees), Max Clark (Tigers), TJ Rumfield (Rockies), Konnor Griffin (Pirates), Carson Benge (Mets), Sam Antonacci (White Sox) and B\u00e1ez\u2019s teammate JJ Wetherholt \u2014 not to mention Munetaka Murakami (White Sox) and Kazuma Okamoto (Blue Jays), veterans in Japan, but rookies stateside.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re going to see some interesting Rookie of the Year ballots, aren\u2019t we?<\/p>\n

*Entering play last night.<\/p>\n

More B\u00e1ez:\u00a0Mooney and Katie Woo have a\u00a0more in-depth look at the rookie<\/a>\u00a0and his path to the big leagues.<\/p>\n

Middle Relief: RIP, Tommy John<\/p>\n

Today, we have an excerpt from Tyler Kepner\u2019s\u00a0obituary for Tommy John<\/a>, who passed away Saturday.<\/p>\n

Tommy John, an enduring left-hander whose eponymous elbow surgery has saved countless pitchers\u2019 careers since it resurrected his own in the mid-1970s, died Saturday. He was\u00a083 years old<\/a>.<\/p>\n

John died at his home in Bradenton, Fla., the Yankees announced Sunday. The\u00a0team previously released a goodbye letter penned by John<\/a>\u00a0on Aug. 8, with the club citing \u201chealth issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe New York Yankees mourn the passing of Tommy John, who was a bedrock of our rotation during his time in pinstripes and a longtime favorite of Yankees fans,\u201d\u00a0the team said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cWhile his incredible longevity and post-surgery achievements changed the fortunes and trajectory of countless athletes around the world, it also overshadowed his excellence as a pitcher. \u2026 We pause to remember the totality of his legacy \u2014 his competitiveness and skill, his penchant for conversation, his kind and gracious nature, and his stature as an athletic and medical pioneer.\u201d<\/p>\n

John went 288-231 with a 3.34 ERA across 26 major-league seasons with six teams. His 700 career starts (second to Steve Carlton among left-handers) included 382 after the groundbreaking procedure by Dr. Frank Jobe, the orthopedic surgeon who resurrected his career<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The surgery, on Sept. 25, 1974, replaced John\u2019s torn ulnar collateral ligament with a tendon from his wrist. John, an All-Star with the White Sox who had gone 40-15 in 2 1\/2 seasons with the Dodgers, returned in 1976 and pitched until 1989, when he finally retired at age 46.<\/p>\n

\u201cTommy was an exceptional pitcher throughout his career in Major League Baseball, and his courageous role in becoming the first to have surgery that would go on to bear his name can\u2019t be overstated,\u201d Stan Kasten, President & CEO of the Dodgers, said in a statement released Sunday. \u201cHis impact both on and off the field has been felt by ballplayers of all ages and will be for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

John had three 20-win seasons, one for the Dodgers and two for the Yankees, and helped the California Angels to the playoffs in 1982. But his name is best known for the surgery, which has revived hundreds of careers,\u00a0especially as pitchers throw harder and harder, increasing the stress on their elbow ligaments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe metrics people want speed, speed, speed,\u201d John\u00a0said in 2017<\/a>, \u201cand the harder these kids throw when they\u2019re younger, it means they\u2019ve got a better chance of having to have Tommy John surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throwing hard was not John\u2019s style. He was a sinkerballer who specialized in weak contact; his career high for strikeouts in a season was 138, and he averaged just 4.3 per nine innings. Only nine pitchers ever allowed more hits.<\/p>\n

But John was effective and durable enough to rank 26th in career victories<\/a>; only two pitchers with more are not enshrined in the Hall of Fame: Roger Clemens, because of his ties to steroids, and Bobby Mathews, who pitched before the creation of the mound.<\/p>\n

For the rest,\u00a0click here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More Tommy John:\u00a0Ian O\u2019Connor says\u00a0the southpaw was a flamethrower<\/a>, just not the kind who threw baseballs very hard.<\/p>\n

American League: Playoff gridlock more confusing than ever<\/p>\n

I expected that the trade deadline would lead to a little separation in the wild-card races.<\/p>\n

I was half right? (Check out the MLB standings\u00a0here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The National League, at least, is sifting into something a bit more reasonable. The Pirates, Reds and Nationals are all at least 6 1\/2 games back. I\u2019m more focused on these three NL teams still chasing the Padres, who sit in that last NL wild-card spot:<\/p>\n

Diamondbacks (1 GB)
Marlins (3 GB)
Cardinals (3 1\/2 GB)<\/p>\n

In the AL,\u00a0six teams\u00a0are closer to a playoff spot than the NL\u2019s Marlins.<\/p>\n

The Guardians, Twins, Rangers, Tigers and now the Orioles have all spent time in the third AL wild-card spot in August.\u00a0They\u2019re all within 1 1\/2 games of the spot right now,\u00a0and they have company: There\u2019s a scenario where the\u00a0suddenly hot Blue Jays<\/a>\u00a0could be the\u00a0sixth team to at least share that seat by this time tomorrow. And just for fun, the Mariners \u2014 despite a 6-8 record in August \u2014 are only 2 1\/2 games out.<\/p>\n

If we can get the Astros in on this action, I\u2019d love to see an eight-way tie: Houston, Texas and Seattle for the AL West, with Cleveland, Detroit, Minnesota, Baltimore and Toronto rounding out the eight-butts-for-two-chairs round of musical chairs.<\/p>\n

Catcher For Hire: Rogers plays for four (!) teams in 21 (!) days<\/p>\n

On July 25, 31-year-old catcher\u00a0Jake Rogers\u00a0played his final game with the Tigers, the only big-league team for which he had ever suited up.<\/p>\n

Twenty-one days later (on Saturday, Aug. 15), he played his first game for the White Sox (in Detroit against the Tigers, coincidentally).<\/p>\n

So, what was Rogers doing in between? Ahh, you know. The usual. Just a few games playing for the Orioles, then a few for the Red Sox. Cody Stavenhagen has\u00a0all the details<\/a>, but\u00a0it\u2019s believed that Rogers is the first player in big-league history to play for so many teams in such a small window of time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If Rogers plays for one more team this year, he\u2019ll tie the MLB record. As we told you when Chris Paddack was putting on his own\u00a0one-man uniform fashion show<\/a>\u00a0earlier this year, this kind of bouncing around the league is a fairly new thing, and at least partially the result of the league\u00a0shuttering so many minor-league teams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Handshakes and High Fives<\/p>\n

The Brewers took three out of four from a struggling Dodgers team over the weekend. Free-agent splurges\u00a0Edwin D\u00edaz<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Kyle Tucker<\/a>\u00a0are both flailing a bit, Justin Wrobleski\u00a0just hit the IL<\/a>\u00a0and Milwaukee pulled the ol\u2019 \u201cIf you can\u2019t make \u2019em join you,\u00a0beat \u2019em<\/a>\u201d on Tarik Skubal.<\/p>\n

Edward Cabrera\u2019s return to the Cubs\u2019 rotation might be a one-and-done<\/a>, and\u00a0Dansby Swanson\u2019s oblique injury<\/a>\u00a0is a rough break as the team tries to chase down those Brewers.<\/p>\n

In 2025, MLB starting pitchers (all of them, combined) threw 761 pitches at 100+ mph. This year, Jacob Misiorowski has thrown\u00a0889.\u00a0He\u2019s not alone, though \u2014\u00a0pitchers are throwing harder<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Interim GM John Mozeliak hadn\u2019t planned to return to baseball so soon. But\u00a0he told Katie Woo<\/a>\u00a0that the challenge of fixing the Angels drew him back in.<\/p>\n

The Nationals are moving CJ Abrams to second base. Seaver King call-up soon? Spencer Nusbaum\u00a0explains the situation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Aaron Judge is\u00a0throwing a baseball<\/a>. Shohei Ohtani is\u00a0throwing bullpens<\/a>. Nature is \u2026 healing?<\/p>\n

Most-clicked in our last Windup:\u00a0Dan Hayes\u2019\u00a0Field of Dreams gamer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love The Windup? Check out\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Windup Newsletter \u26be | This is The Athletic\u2019s MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":858644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-858643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}