Skip to content

Cinderella Story: 5 rookies who made instant impacts

Jayne Kamin-Oncea / USA TODAY Sports

Trevor Story is having himself a week.

Story, who earned a spot on the Colorado Rockies' Opening Day roster following a strong spring, smashed a pair of home runs Monday in his MLB debut and hasn't slowed down yet. He smacked another round-tripper the following evening before becoming the first player in MLB history to homer in each of his first three games after taking Patrick Corbin yard Wednesday.

Before the 23-year-old shortstop slows down, then, let's take a look at five other players who also crushed their first week in the major leagues.

Yasiel Puig

With all the off-the-field issues and whispers about his negative presence in the Dodgers' clubhouse (not to mention his injury-marred 2015 season), it's easy to forget how ridiculous Yasiel Puig's first few days in Los Angeles were. Penciled into the Dodgers' lineup for the first time June 3, 2013, Puig went 2-for-4 and sealed a 2-1 victory over the San Diego Padres by doubling off Chris Denorfia at first base with a remarkable throw from the right-field warning track. Somehow, the 22-year-old Cuban was even the better the next night, smashing a pair of homers and driving in five runs at Chavez Ravine. He went hitless the following evening, but crushed another two home runs with three multi-hit performances in his next four games to finish his first week in the majors hitting .464/.483/.984.

Jay Bruce

Hard as it is to believe, the Reds were once an organization with promise, and Bruce - the Texas boy taken 12th overall in 2005 - was a big part of that. Widely considered the top prospect in baseball throughout his time in the minors, Bruce's first swings in Cincinnati only intensified the hype surrounding him, as the 21-year-old right fielder went 3-for-3 with a pair of walks in his MLB debut May 27, 2008, and made it through his first week hitting .577/.667/1.038 with three homers, three doubles, and six walks.

Mike Jacobs

Before falling goatee-first into journeyman status - Jacobs is currently employed by the Lancaster Barnstormers, in case you were wondering - the burly first baseman made a jaw-dropping first impression with the New York Mets that belied his "pedigree" as a 38th-round draft pick. On Aug. 21, 2005, Jacobs smashed a pinch-hit, three-run homer off Esteban Loaiza at Nationals Park in his first MLB at-bat. Two days later, he went 2-for-3 with another homer and a pair of walks. The next day, Jacobs clubbed two more home runs, a double, and a single to lead the Mets to an 18-4 drubbing of the Arizona Diamondbacks. All told, Jacobs hit .348/.464/.913 with four homers and five walks in his first week in the bigs.

Willie McCovey

After spending the first half of the 1959 campaign with Triple-A Phoenix despite dominating the Pacific Coast League the season prior, McCovey wasted no time cementing his spot in San Francisco's lineup when the Giants promoted him shortly after the All-Star break. McCovey, then 21, went 4-for-4 with a pair of triples July 30 at Seals Stadium in his MLB debut, and finished his first week in the majors hitting .462/.462/1.038 with three homers while recording at least one hit in each of his first six games.

Karl Spooner

One year before a a young left-hander named Sanford Koufax made his Dodgers debut, the club was fixated on another precocious southpaw by the name of Karl Spooner, who joined the club in September of 1954 and was hailed as a future superstar shortly after arriving in Brooklyn. Though the Dodgers had been eliminated from the pennant race, Spooner dazzled the 3,256 fans who poured into Ebbets Field on Sept. 22, 1954, lifting his club to a 3-0 victory over the New York Giants by fanning 15 in a complete-game shutout. Four days later, when the Pittsburgh Pirates came to Brooklyn to close out the regular season, Spooner was superb once again, tossing another complete-game shutout with a dozen strikeouts in a 1-0 victory to finish his first week in the majors 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA, 0.72 WHIP, and 39.7 percent strikeout rate in 18 innings.

(Videos courtesy: MLB.com)

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox