Home run, home run, I thought the manager was playing around after seeing the catcher lineup in history with the first cannon show in the first leadoff game of his life
Aug 06, 2025
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Athletics catcher Shay Langlies hit three home runs in his first game as a leadoff.
Langlies played as the No. 1 catcher in the first of three consecutive away games against the Washington Nationals at Washington DC Nationals on the 6th (Korea time), and led the team to a 16-7 victory by swinging five hits, three RBIs and four runs in six at-bats, including three home runs.
In the top of the first inning, Langlies hit Washington left-hander McKinsey Gore's 96.2 mile fastball that flowed outside of the fourth pitch to hit the wall in right-center. The launch angle was 34 degrees, the batting speed was 104.8 miles, and the distance was 402 feet.
Langlies, who hit left in the second inning and grounded out to shortstop in the third inning, hit another home run in the fourth at-bat in the fifth inning with a 10-1 lead. He went out as the leadoff hitter and pulled an 88.7-mile slider that glided into the middle of right-hander Orlando Ribalta's ninth pitch at the full count to well over the inside of the left foul pole. Launch angle of 30 degrees, batting speed of 102.7 miles, and distance of 387 feet.
Langlies then drew a solo arch against the middle wall as the leadoff hitter in the seventh inning. This time, he hit a 94.3 mile fastball driven into the middle of left-hander Andriy Lara's second pitch to well over the middle fence. Launch angle of 27 degrees, batting speed of 107.7 miles, and distance of 419 feet.
Langlies also hit a left double in the eighth inning with one out and a runner on the first base, and then homered on the follow-up hit.
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Also, Langlies is the second time in history that a catcher has hit three home runs in leadoff after Tampa Bay Rays Travis d'Arnaud in 2019. Dano started as the No. 1 catcher against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on July 16 of that year and hit three home runs.
In addition, it is the first time in 53 years that an Athletics catcher has played five hits since Dave Duncan on July 13, 1972.
Langlies is said to be the first hitter to play baseball including his high school and college years.
MLB.com says that as far as he can remember, he has never been a first hitter in high school and college as well as in the professional world. If there is, it could be in the days of Little Baseball, and because of this, Langlies said, "When checking the lineup the day before by group text message, he thought coach Mark Korsay was playing a joke."
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Langlies started 108 games, the most as a fourth batter, until the previous day, and also started 49 games as a fourth hitter and 23 games as a fifth hitter this season. The leadoff is unfamiliar. However, neither he nor Coach Korsay imagined that he would take a historic hit on this day.
After the game, Coach Korsay said, "It's a game where Shay is very strong. I think I can do anything at the plate. "What we saw today…" he was surprised, but he sent it out as a leadoff today because he's been in good batting lately. I wanted to get a head start from the beginning."
What's interesting is that if Langlies had hit a home run instead of a double in the eighth inning, he would have become the 21st player in Major League history to hit four home runs in a game. Nick Kurtz, his teammate and rookie first baseman, hit four home runs in a game against the Houston Astros on the 26th of last month for the 20th time in history.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
