On August 6, 2023, Lyon Richardson, in his major league debut with the Reds in Cincinnati, gave up home runs on his first two pitches. CJ Abrams and Lane Thomas of the Nationals each homered. That has not happened, as far as can be determined, to any other pitcher in MLB history.
Richardson gave up two more runs in the first, lasted three innings and took the loss in a game the Nats won, 6-3. Still active, he appeared 34 times in relief for the Reds in 2025. He pitched in two more with the Reds and one with the Brewers in 2026. He has yet to win or save a game.
Most recently, on April 23, 2026, JR Ritchie made his major league debut, starting for the Braves at Nationals Park in Washington. In the bottom of the first, Nats lead-off hitter James Wood sent Ritchie’s first pitch, a 94-mph fastball, over the right-field fence.
Ritchie, 22 and the Braves no. 2 prospect at the time, settled down after that. He went seven innings, struck out seven and gave up only one more run in winning 7-2. The other run came on a homer to deep center on a 2-2 pitch to CJ Abrams in the fourth. As you’d expect, Ritchie’s parents and other family members were in the stands.
First pitches from at least 83 rookies making their MLB debut have been hit for homers, Dan Freedman of the Internet Baseball Writers Association wrote in a Here’s the Pitch post in May 2026.
On the flip side of first-pitch dingers, rookie pitcher Tommy Milone of the Nationals hit the first pitch he saw as a batter for a homer on Sept. 3, 2011.
Milone was one of two lefties (pitching and at bat) who did it, and the only one of the seven who did it with a man on base. Sadly for him, on the mound he blew a 5-0 lead against the Mets and wasn’t involved in the decision in a game Washington won. He never hit another big-league homer in his nine-year career, either.
With the designated hitter now in both leagues, Milone likely will remain the last pitcher – half a dozen others had done it — to hit the first pitch he saw out of the park. Some rookie on the mound, however, before too long will suffer the same first-pitch fate as Richardson and Richie.
