Welcome to The Show, Joshua Baez.
Why can’t the Phillies ever develop a prospect like the Cardinals, or literally any other team in Major League Baseball?
Genuinely, why? You know what, forget it. I’m not doing that to myself today. Let’s just focus on what happened at Wrigley Field, where Cardinals prospect Joshua Baez did something no human being has ever done in the history of the sport.
Joshua Baez made his MLB debut and in his first at-bat, jumped all over the first pitch of his big-league career and crushed it to center field for the first hit and first homer of his life.
Joshua Baez Home Run No. 1
Then it got ridiculous. His second at-bat took a little longer but ended identically, ball over the wall, this time to LEFT field.
Joshua Baez Home Run No. 2
Matthew Boyd must have been seeing ghosts. Just when you thought Joshua Baez couldn’t do it AGAIN, he went deep to right field.
Three at-bats, three homers, one to every part of the yard. Center, left, right. That’s the greatest MLB debut of all time, and I’m saying it with my whole chest, because you’ve never seen anything like it because it has never happened before.
Joshua Baez Home Run No. 3
The crazy part is that Joshua Baez has been doing this all year. Back in June he hit FOUR homers in a single game for Triple-A Memphis. The man is a natural disaster with a bat, and this three-homer debut is just the latest proof he’s carrying around raw power most players can only fantasize about.
Alright, I tried to let it go and I can’t.
Watching another team’s homegrown kid debut with the greatest game in baseball history rips the scab right off. Why can’t the Phillies grow a bat like this?
The Cardinals, a franchise that’s been cranking out ballplayers since the dawn of time, just plugged in a 23-year-old who hit three bombs to three fields on his first three swings.
The Phillies? Their farm system coughs up nothing but dust when it counts, which is precisely why they had to ship prospects out at the deadline instead of promoting a stud from within.
Same tired story. Other teams grow superstars. The Phillies stand around watching it happen and scratching their heads. Joshua Baez is just the newest, flashiest reminder, and yeah, it stings from where I’m sitting.
But credit where it’s due. That was the most absurd debut anybody has ever laid eyes on, and Joshua Baez is officially appointment viewing. Enjoy him, St. Louis. That kid’s going to be a nightmare for a long, long time, and the whole league, my Phillies very much included, better start figuring out how to get him out. Good luck with that one.
