HOMEGROWN ⚓ ANCHORED IN NEW ENGLAND

Joshua Báez didn’t just make his Major League debut. He made history.

BOSTON → BROOKLINE → ST. LOUIS

There are Major League debuts.

And then there’s what Joshua Báez did Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field.

The 23-year-old St. Louis Cardinals prospect stepped into the box for his first Major League at-bat and saw his first Major League pitch.

449 feet later, it was gone.

Welcome to The Show.

But Báez was just getting started.

Second at-bat?

Home run.

Third at-bat?

Home run. Again.

Three at-bats. Three home runs.

Báez became the first player in modern Major League Baseball history to hit three home runs in his MLB debut, powering St. Louis to an 8-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

His final line:

3-for-4 | 3 HR | 5 RBI | 3 R

An unbelievable baseball story.

But around here, there's another reason we're paying attention.

HE'S HOMEGROWN

Before the Cardinals. Before professional baseball. Before walking into Wrigley Field and making history, Báez's story ran straight through New England.

Báez was born in Boston in 2003 and spent much of his early childhood in Santo Domingo before returning to Boston and settling in Dorchester at age 11.

His baseball path took him through Cristo Rey Boston and Snowden International School before eventually landing at Dexter Southfield in Brookline.

And the talent was obvious.

At Dexter Southfield, Báez wasn't simply a power-hitting outfielder. He was also a legitimate pitching prospect, throwing a fastball into the high 90s.

As a senior, he hit .378 while posting a 1.94 ERA with 44 strikeouts in just 18 innings on the mound.

He committed to Vanderbilt, one of the premier college baseball programs in the country.

But Major League Baseball came calling first.

THE CARDINALS BET ON THE TOOLS

The St. Louis Cardinals selected Báez with the 54th overall pick in the second round of the 2021 MLB Draft.

He signed and began the long climb through professional baseball.

And it wasn't a straight line.

Báez had enormous raw power, but like plenty of young power hitters, making consistent contact became part of his development.

He worked his way through the Cardinals' system, refined his approach and eventually turned himself into one of the organization's top prospects.

Then came the call.

Triple-A Memphis to St. Louis.

Major League Baseball.

And waiting for him in Chicago were roughly 30 members of his familywho had made the trip to see his debut.

Nobody could have known what they were about to witness.

ONE PITCH

Cubs starter Matthew Boyd delivered the first pitch Báez ever saw as a Major Leaguer.

Báez launched it.

449 feet to left-center field.

That's already the kind of moment a family remembers forever.

Then he homered again.

And again.

Not three home runs over his first week.

Not three over his first series.

His first three Major League at-bats.

Baseball has been played professionally for a very, very long time.

Nobody had started a Major League career quite like this.

MORE THAN A DEBUT

Maybe Báez becomes a star.

Maybe Saturday ends up being the best game of his career.

That's the beautiful part about baseball — nobody knows yet.

But this much is permanent:

Joshua Báez is in the record books.

And long before his name appeared in a St. Louis Cardinals lineup, it appeared on baseball fields around Boston.

Dorchester.

Brookline.

New England.

Then Wrigley Field.

Three swings later, the kid from Boston had made Major League history.

That's Homegrown.

— Big Rhody

HOMEGROWN

Local Stories. New England Roots. Bigger Stages.

Homegrown is a Big Rhody series highlighting the athletes, coaches and sports stories that start here in New England — and sometimes end up on the biggest stages in sports.

A 6-foot-9 Massachusetts left-hander with a 100-mph fastball, elite athleticism, and one of the most intriguing ceilings in the 2026 MLB Draft is now in the hands of the Texas Rangers.

By Big Rhody | 401 Studios

Every once in a while, a high school athlete comes along who simply looks different from everyone else on the field.

Brody Bumila is one of those athletes.

At 6-foot-9 and 255 pounds, the Bishop Feehan left-hander looks imposing before he ever throws a pitch.

Then he throws one 100 miles per hour.

And suddenly you understand why Major League scouts spent the spring descending on Attleboro, Massachusetts.

Bumila’s senior season wasn’t just dominant — at times, it bordered on absurd.

He finished 6–0 with a 1.10 ERA and struck out 106 hitters in just 44⅓ innings. On May 9, he delivered the performance that may ultimately be remembered as the defining moment of his high school baseball career: a seven-inning no-hitter with 20 strikeouts, breaking a Bishop Feehan record that had stood for 60 years.

Twenty-one outs.

Twenty of them by strikeout.

His fastball reached triple digits, his draft stock soared, and MLB Pipeline eventually ranked him the No. 23 prospect in the entire 2026 draft class.

For a time, Bumila looked destined for the first round.

Then baseball reminded everyone just how fragile the path from high school phenom to Major League pitcher can be.

The Arm That Made Him — And Nearly Cost Him

Bumila’s story becomes even more remarkable when you consider that his senior season was already a comeback.

He suffered a UCL injury and underwent internal-brace surgery in May 2025, costing him his junior pitching season.

He returned throwing harder.

By the spring of 2026, Bumila wasn’t merely healthy enough to pitch again — he was touching 100 mph, overwhelming Massachusetts hitters, and rapidly climbing draft boards.

Then, shortly before the draft, another MRI revealed another UCL injury.

Another surgery would be required.

For a pitcher projected to potentially go in the first round, the timing couldn’t have been worse.

Bumila began to fall.

The first round went by.

Then the second.

Finally, with the 89th overall selection in the third round, the Texas Rangers decided they’d seen enough.

The talent was worth the risk.

And Texas didn’t pay him like the 89th-best player in the draft.

Bumila signed for a reported $2.75 million — nearly $2 million above the $900,800 slot value assigned to the pick.

That’s not third-round money.

That’s an organization making a serious bet on what Brody Bumila could eventually become.

He’s Not Just a Baseball Player

Perhaps the most fascinating part of Bumila’s story is that the 100-mph fastball isn’t his only claim to athletic fame.

Months before MLB scouts were watching him pitch, Bumila was producing one of the most remarkable basketball seasons in Massachusetts.

He averaged 30.6 points and 15.2 rebounds for Bishop Feehan.

Then came the state tournament.

Bumila elevated his game even further, averaging 40.8 points per game during Feehan's five-game championship run.

He scored 51 points with 22 rebounds in the state semifinal against Andover.

Then he produced 36 points and 20 rebounds as Bishop Feehan defeated Central Catholic to win the Division 1 state championship.

Eventually, MaxPreps named him its Male National Athlete of the Year.

Not Massachusetts.

The entire country.

And Bumila isn’t the first Massachusetts pitching phenom to face a future in professional sports after dominating more than one of them.

Another Massachusetts Lefty

Another notable pitcher from Massachusetts to sign out of high school — coincidentally, from the same hometown I grew up in — was Tom Glavine.

Before Glavine became a 305-game winner, two-time Cy Young Award winner, World Series MVP, and Baseball Hall of Famer, he was a multisport star at Billerica Memorial High School.

And baseball wasn’t his only professional option.

In 1984, the Atlanta Braves selected Glavine in the second round of the MLB Draft.

Days later, the Los Angeles Kings selected him 69th overall in the NHL Draft.

Glavine ultimately chose baseball.

It worked out pretty well.

More than four decades later, another Massachusetts left-hander finds himself beginning the professional baseball journey directly out of high school.

And it's an exceptionally rare path.

According to MLB Pipeline, only two Massachusetts prep left-handers — Bill Travers in 1970 and Glavine in 1984 — have signed directly out of high school and gone on to reach the Major Leagues.

Bumila is trying to join them.

The pitchers themselves couldn’t be more different.

Glavine built a Hall of Fame career without overpowering hitters. His greatness came from command, movement, changing speeds, and one of the best changeups of his generation.

Bumila’s calling card is something else entirely:

Power.

So Who Does Brody Bumila Look Like?

It’s impossible to watch a 6-foot-9 left-handed pitcher throw a baseball 100 miles per hour without thinking of one name:

Randy Johnson.

Let’s make something clear:

Brody Bumila is not “the next Randy Johnson.”

Johnson is one of the greatest pitchers who ever lived: 303 victories, five Cy Young Awards, and 4,875 strikeouts.

Comparing an 18-year-old who hasn’t thrown a professional inning to that résumé would be unfair.

But comparing the physical ingredients?

That’s different.

Johnson stood 6-foot-10.

Bumila stands 6-foot-9.

Both throw left-handed. Both possess extraordinary extension toward home plate. And both can generate the kind of velocity that becomes even more uncomfortable for hitters because of where the baseball is released.

MLB Pipeline’s scouting report on Bumila describes his extension and unusually low release height as outliers. Combined with a fastball that can exceed 100 mph, the ball doesn’t merely arrive quickly.

It gets on hitters differently.

That’s the tantalizing part.

The fastball is already there.

The question is what comes next.

Can Texas Build the Rest?

This is where Bumila’s selection by the Rangers becomes particularly interesting.

Texas knew exactly what it was betting on.

The organization watched every game, every start, and, according to Rangers assistant general manager Josh Boyd, essentially every pitch Bumila threw this spring.

It knew about the first elbow surgery.

It knew another was coming.

And it still handed an injured 18-year-old third-round pick $2.75 million.

Why?

Because pitchers with Bumila’s physical characteristics simply don’t come along very often.

The Rangers also aren’t strangers to taking chances on talented pitchers with significant medical histories.

Kumar Rocker underwent Tommy John surgery after Texas selected him third overall in 2022 and eventually reached the Major Leagues. The organization has experience guiding talented arms through significant elbow rehabilitation.

Now comes the difficult part.

Bumila has to get healthy.

After signing with Texas, he met with Rangers team physician Dr. Keith Meister and confirmed that he will undergo reconstructive surgery on the same elbow.

Then Texas has to turn an extraordinary fastball into an extraordinary pitcher.

MLB Pipeline currently grades his fastball at 70 on the 20–80 scouting scale, with his slider and changeup both receiving 50 grades. If one of those secondary pitches becomes a legitimate plus weapon — and the other becomes reliable enough to keep Major League hitters honest — the ceiling changes dramatically.

Because you don’t have to teach 6-foot-9.

You don’t have to teach left-handed.

And you certainly don’t have to teach 100 miles per hour when it’s already there.

The Rangers’ job is to develop everything around it.

The $2.75 Million Question

What does Brody Bumila ultimately become?

Nobody knows.

That’s the reality of projecting an 18-year-old pitcher — particularly one preparing for his second major elbow procedure.

Maybe injuries prevent us from ever seeing the pitcher scouts envisioned this spring.

Maybe the secondary pitches never develop enough for him to remain a starter.

Maybe 100 mph eventually plays out of a Major League bullpen instead.

Those outcomes are possible.

But there’s another possibility.

Bumila gets healthy.

The fastball returns.

The changeup develops.

The slider becomes a weapon.

The command improves as his enormous frame matures and professional coaching begins refining the delivery.

And suddenly the Texas Rangers have a 6-foot-9 left-handed starting pitcher standing on a Major League mound throwing 100 mph.

That’s why Texas paid $2.75 million.

Not for what Brody Bumila is today.

For what he might become tomorrow.

Massachusetts has already seen a left-handed high school phenom take this extraordinarily rare path and eventually end up in Cooperstown.

Tom Glavine did it his way.

Brody Bumila will have to do it completely differently.

But somewhere between Attleboro and Arlington, Texas now has the opportunity to find out just how high the ceiling really goes for one of the most unusual young arms New England has ever produced.

The Rangers aren’t developing the next Randy Johnson.

There will probably never be another Randy Johnson.

But if Brody Bumila gets healthy and Texas can turn that extraordinary fastball, enormous frame, and elite athleticism into a complete pitching arsenal...

They might not need him to be the next anybody.

Brody Bumila could become the first Brody Bumila.