Cubs pitcher Javier Assad made his MLB debut on Tuesday afternoon vs. the Cardinals. After the game, he talked about what it was like making his debut in front of the fans at Wrigley.
Javier Assad grew up watching Albert Pujols play and was only a toddler when the longtime Cardinals slugger made his big-league debut.
And now, the rookie Cubs pitcher is forever linked to the future Hall of Famer in baseball history.
Assad made his own big-league debut Tuesday at Wrigley Field and became only the fourth pitcher ever to notch his first career strikeout against Pujols.
The full list, according to Baseball Reference:
"Something that I never would have imagined," said Assad — who was 3 years old when Pujols debuted in 2001 — after Tuesday's outing through Cubs interpreter Will Nadal.
"Pujols is a great player. We all know the historic player that he is."
MLB
Indeed. Pujols homered in Monday's series opener at Wrigley Field — No. 693 in his illustrious career. He's on the doorstep of becoming the fourth player ever to hit 700.
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"I never would have imagined that I would have been facing him, let alone getting that strikeout," said Assad, who threw four-plus shutout innings.
"But not just him. Yadier Molina, Nolan Arenado, I faced those guys. Those are guys that I've looked up, the guys that I've watched play throughout my life. I was just excited and happy to get that."
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