CHICAGO -- Joshua Baez smashed the first pitch he saw in the majors about 450 feet, then flashed a grin to the St. Louis dugout as he began his home run trot.
"There was a calmness and a smile, like, 'I'm here,'" Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. "It's rare for me to pick my head up to enjoy parts of it. He didn't exactly give us an option but to actually take a step back and enjoy the heck out of what was going on there."
There has never been a show quite like it.
Baez, 23, became the first player to hit a home run in each of his first three at-bats in the majors, leading the Cardinals to an 8-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday.
Called up from Triple-A Memphis before the game, Baez had 30 members of his family in attendance at Wrigley Field. The traveling party, which included his mother, Yris, gathered on the field for photos afterward despite rain.
"It's just unreal," said Baez, the fourth-ranked prospect in the Cardinals' system and No. 93 overall, according to ESPN's Kiley McDaniel. "To not only get a hit, but three home runs? It's crazy."
He did it with flair, too. The first came on the first pitch he saw from Matthew Boyd and landed an estimated 449 feet away in the bleachers in left-center. It was the third-longest homer in a player's MLB debut since ESPN began tracking home run distances in 2006. Only Jason Heyward (476 feet) in 2010 and Aaron Judge (457 feet) in 2016 had longer.
Baez's next at-bat ended with a solo shot down the left-field line, and the third, on his ensuing at-bat, went the opposite way, giving him five RBIs. He's the first player in MLB history to hit three homers in their major league debut.
"He hit three different pitches for home runs. He had a great game. He beat us for sure," Cubs manager Craig Counsell said.
Baez showed plenty of power in the minors this season. When he was called up, he was leading all Triple-A hitters with 34 home runs, including four multihomer games.
He's the ninth player to make his major league debut for the Cardinals this season.
Baez will have an encore in the series finale Sunday night against the Cubs (7 p.m. ET on ESPN).
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.