Rising Blue Jays star wastes no time endearing himself to fans with epic MLB debut

Will Wagner has exactly one big league game under his belt, but boy was it a memorable one. The 25-year-old went 3-for-4 with a double, a run scored and a run driven in. In doing so, he became just the fourth player in Toronto Blue Jays history to record three or more hits in his first MLB game.

He joins the likes of Danny Ainge (1979), Pat Borders (1988) and JP Arencibia (2010) as the only players in Blue Jays history to accomplish the feat.

Wagner, an 18th-round pick of the Houston Astros in the 2021 MLB Draft, was only just recently acquired by the Blue Jays in the Yusei Kikuchi trade. He has joined Joey Loperfido in the big leagues and the two of them represent a big part of the Jays' future, so it's going to be nice to see them audition for roles in 2025 down the stretch in 2024.

Will Wagner has MLB debut for the ages

Wagner draws a ton of comparisons to teammate Spencer Horwitz in that they both swing the bat from the left side, both have a contact-over-power approach, they draw a ton of walks and don't strike out much and they even play the same defensive positions. This could eventually lead to some awkward configurations on defense since they're both limited to first and/or second base (although Wagner can play a bit of third, too), but having both of their bats in the lineup could be huge.

In 77 minor league games this year, Wagner has six home runs with 43 runs driven in and 57 of his own runs scored. He's also walked 59 times (!) while striking out just 37 times. His overall batting average between the Astros and Blue Jays systems sits at .315 while his .876 OPS is above-average as well. He seems to be ready for a role at the big league level, and the Blue Jays just so happen to have plenty of playing time to go around in the immediate future.