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We’ve never seen a debut like Joshua Báez’s on Saturday. Plus: The trade deadline did not clarify 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.
I’m Levi Weaver — welcome to The Windup.
Big Swings: That 3-homer Báez debut
Cardinals outfielder Joshua Báez’s one-of-one debut was special from the very first big-league pitch he ever saw, which he blasted 449 feet to center field. But that had been done before — 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 on the first pitch.
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 two home runs in his debut, and only the second to do it in his first two at-bats (Bob Nieman, 1951).
But in the sixth inning, when he hit his third home run in his third big-league at-bat?! Well, now. That is a truly unprecedented feat.
Like any good baseball story, there’s also a backstory. On June 17, 2023, Joshua’s dad, Jose Manuel, passed away. Three years later, to the day, Joshua hit four home runs in a game for the Triple-A Memphis Cardinals. Two months later, he was breaking an MLB record. Patrick Mooney spoke to Báez and his family about the unforgettable debut and Jose, of which Baez said, “I just know that he’s super proud.”
Have you noticed we’ve had a lot of big-time debuts this year?
Ten days before Báez, Guardians infielder Angel Genao became the 22nd player since 1900 to log four hits in his big-league debut. Tigers infielder Kevin McGonigle was the 21st, doing it on Opening Day.
And those eight players who have hit multiple home runs in their MLB debut? Three did it this year. Báez, Chase DeLauter (Guardians, April 26) and Jose Fernandez (Diamondbacks, April 31) made history for the first time since 2016 (Trevor Story).
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 Báez’s teammate JJ Wetherholt — not to mention Munetaka Murakami (White Sox) and Kazuma Okamoto (Blue Jays), veterans in Japan, but rookies stateside.
We’re going to see some interesting Rookie of the Year ballots, aren’t we?
*Entering play last night.
More Báez: Mooney and Katie Woo have a more in-depth look at the rookie and his path to the big leagues.
Middle Relief: RIP, Tommy John
Today, we have an excerpt from Tyler Kepner’s obituary for Tommy John, who passed away Saturday.
Tommy John, an enduring left-hander whose eponymous elbow surgery has saved countless pitchers’ careers since it resurrected his own in the mid-1970s, died Saturday. He was 83 years old.
John died at his home in Bradenton, Fla., the Yankees announced Sunday. The team previously released a goodbye letter penned by John on Aug. 8, with the club citing “health issues.”
“The 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,” the team said in a statement. “While 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. … We pause to remember the totality of his legacy — his competitiveness and skill, his penchant for conversation, his kind and gracious nature, and his stature as an athletic and medical pioneer.”
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.
The surgery, on Sept. 25, 1974, replaced John’s 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.
“Tommy 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’t be overstated,” Stan Kasten, President & CEO of the Dodgers, said in a statement released Sunday. “His impact both on and off the field has been felt by ballplayers of all ages and will be for generations to come.”
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, especially as pitchers throw harder and harder, increasing the stress on their elbow ligaments.
“The metrics people want speed, speed, speed,” John said in 2017, “and the harder these kids throw when they’re younger, it means they’ve got a better chance of having to have Tommy John surgery.”
Throwing hard was not John’s 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.
But John was effective and durable enough to rank 26th in career victories; 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.
For the rest, click here.
More Tommy John: Ian O’Connor says the southpaw was a flamethrower, just not the kind who threw baseballs very hard.
American League: Playoff gridlock more confusing than ever
I expected that the trade deadline would lead to a little separation in the wild-card races.
I was half right? (Check out the MLB standings here.)
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’m more focused on these three NL teams still chasing the Padres, who sit in that last NL wild-card spot:
Diamondbacks (1 GB)
Marlins (3 GB)
Cardinals (3 1/2 GB)
In the AL, six teams are closer to a playoff spot than the NL’s Marlins.
The Guardians, Twins, Rangers, Tigers and now the Orioles have all spent time in the third AL wild-card spot in August. They’re all within 1 1/2 games of the spot right now, and they have company: There’s a scenario where the suddenly hot Blue Jays could be the sixth team to at least share that seat by this time tomorrow. And just for fun, the Mariners — despite a 6-8 record in August — are only 2 1/2 games out.
If we can get the Astros in on this action, I’d 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.
Catcher For Hire: Rogers plays for four (!) teams in 21 (!) days
On July 25, 31-year-old catcher Jake Rogers played his final game with the Tigers, the only big-league team for which he had ever suited up.
Twenty-one days later (on Saturday, Aug. 15), he played his first game for the White Sox (in Detroit against the Tigers, coincidentally).
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 all the details, but it’s believed that Rogers is the first player in big-league history to play for so many teams in such a small window of time.
If Rogers plays for one more team this year, he’ll tie the MLB record. As we told you when Chris Paddack was putting on his own one-man uniform fashion show earlier this year, this kind of bouncing around the league is a fairly new thing, and at least partially the result of the league shuttering so many minor-league teams.
Handshakes and High Fives
The Brewers took three out of four from a struggling Dodgers team over the weekend. Free-agent splurges Edwin Díaz and Kyle Tucker are both flailing a bit, Justin Wrobleski just hit the IL and Milwaukee pulled the ol’ “If you can’t make ’em join you, beat ’em” on Tarik Skubal.
Edward Cabrera’s return to the Cubs’ rotation might be a one-and-done, and Dansby Swanson’s oblique injury is a rough break as the team tries to chase down those Brewers.
In 2025, MLB starting pitchers (all of them, combined) threw 761 pitches at 100+ mph. This year, Jacob Misiorowski has thrown 889. He’s not alone, though — pitchers are throwing harder.
Interim GM John Mozeliak hadn’t planned to return to baseball so soon. But he told Katie Woo that the challenge of fixing the Angels drew him back in.
The Nationals are moving CJ Abrams to second base. Seaver King call-up soon? Spencer Nusbaum explains the situation.
Aaron Judge is throwing a baseball. Shohei Ohtani is throwing bullpens. Nature is … healing?
Most-clicked in our last Windup: Dan Hayes’ Field of Dreams gamer.
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