Top prospects debut: Tatis (2 hits), Eloy, Alonso

Opening Day 2019 was the Major League debut for three highly touted players who were among the top prospects in baseball entering this year.

Here’s a rundown of how each player’s debut went, along with his MLB Pipeline prospect rank:

Fernando Tatis Jr. (2nd overall), SS, Padres
Tatis was 20 years, 85 days old Thursday and became the youngest player to appear in an Opening Day game since 19-year-old Adrian Beltre in 1999. It’s worth noting that Tatis was born in January of that year.

Tatis got his first career hit in his first at-bat, and tacked on another single later in the game, ultimately going 2-for-3. With that, he was the youngest player with multiple hits on Opening Day since 19-year-old Robin Yount in 1975. Tatis and the Padres beat the Giants 2-0.

Eloy Jimenez (3rd overall), OF, White Sox
Jimenez went 0-for-3 in his debut, but that doesn’t quite tell the whole story. As the White Sox rallied for three runs in the ninth inning of an eventual loss, he got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, leading to a White Sox run. Jimenez came around to score later in the inning on a Tim Anderson single.

Jimenez will head into the White Sox second game of the year looking for his first Major League hit.

Pete Alonso (51st overall), 1B, Mets
Alonso struck out in his first at-bat against Max Scherzer, but ended up going 1-for-4 in the game. He tacked on a single in the eighth for his first Major League hit. The Mets won 2-0 behind Jacob deGrom, Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz.

Alonso has had some notable Statcast feats in the past, including in the 2018 Futures Game and the Arizona Fall League. We’ll see what he does in that realm at the Major League level soon.