Facing Blake Snell, Jackson Chourio led off Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a home run.
Coming into the game, Chourio was 0-for-5 with four strikeouts and no walks against Snell in his career. On the first pitch of the game, he hit an opposite-field home run, marking his sixth career postseason home run. Chourio is only 22 years old, but is playing in his third postseason.
He is still growing as a player, but has proven he can thrive on the biggest stage. He is now the only player in MLB history to hit six postseason home runs before turning 23.
His sixth home run was just the second postseason home run since 2008 to come off the first pitch of a game. Surprisingly enough, the only other time also came off Snell, just last postseason. In total, it was the sixth first-pitch postseason home run since 1988, per MLB Network's Sarah Langs.
The home run was also the third leadoff home run by Chourio in the postseason, moving him into a tie for the second most leadoff home runs in the postseason all-time. He is tied with Shohei Ohtani, Derek Jeter and Jimmy Rollins. Only Kyle Schwarber has more postseason leadoff home runs with 5.
Schwarber's third career leadoff home run came in 2022, when he was 29 years old. Chourio is just two shy of him and has not even turned 23.