Home runs look different, depending on your perspective.
On Sunday (September 23, 2012), Texas Rangers 19-year-old rookie Jurickson Profar became the 113th player, just the third teenager and the first Texas Ranger to homer in his first major league at bat. (This feat is much more common, by the way, than homering in your last at bat, done only 44 times.) Profar considered a top prospect hit .281 with 14 home runs, 62 RBI and 16 stolen bases in 126 games for the Double-A Frisco Roughriders before being called up.
So, did Profar ride into the spotlight with some of the games great long ball threats? Not so much. How many of the game’s current top 50 career home run leaders (400 or more homers each) homered in their first MLB at-bat? Zero. The career home run leader among players homering in their first trip to the plate is Gary Gaetti with 360. And, in fact, 23 of the 113 members of this club current stand at 1 career homer – although a handful are still active and likely to add to their totals.
A few other first-at-bat homer factoids:
– Twenty-eight rookies got off to the fastest start possible, homering on the first pitch they saw – most recently Starling Marte of the Pirates, July 26 of this season.
– Four accomplished the ultimate first at-bat, starting their careers with a Grand Slam: Bill Duggelby (Phillies, 1898); Jeremy Hermida (Marlins, 2005); Kevin Kouzmanoff (Indians, 2006)l and Daniel Nava (Red Sox 2010).
– Two players combined “fast and ultimate” hitting Grand Slams on the first pitch they ever saw (Kouzmanoff and Nava.)
– Two had to work really hard, notching and inside-the-park home run on their first at bat: Luke Stuart (Cardinals, 1921) and Johnnie Lemaster (Giants, 1975).
