St. Louis Cardinals prospect, ex-Peoria Chiefs player hits historic home run cycle

Chandler Redmond slugged his way into baseball history Wednesday with a rare feat known as a home run cycle in a Springfield Cardinals Double-A game in Texas.

The St. Louis Cardinals prospect and former Peoria Chiefs player hit four home runs in four consecutive at-bats off four different pitchers. But those home runs included a solo, a two-run shot, a three-run homer and a grand slam.

That made the left-handed hitting Redmond just the second player ever in the modern era of professional baseball to produce a home run cycle. Tyrone Horne did it on July 27, 1998, for the then-Cardinals affiliate Double-A Arkansas Travelers of the Texas League. It's never happened in a Major League Baseball game.

Redmond also piled up 11 RBIs in the game.

"It's unbelievable," Redmond told MLB.com. "I don't even know what words to use to describe the feelings right now. … It's just mind-blowing to think that I'm just the second guy to ever (hit for a home run cycle)."

More:Ex-St. Louis Cardinals prospect, Peoria Chiefs player shocks baseball with 527-foot homer

It's quite a story for a player taken in the 32nd round of the MLB Draft and signed for $3,000. It's also quite a coincidence, as Redmond played for the Chiefs last season and hit 13 home runs in 63 games in what was then called the High-A Central League and among his Peoria teammates was Leandro Cedeno.

Cedeno, who plays for Amarillo, in mid-July hit one of the longest home runs in baseball history in the same Texas ballpark, and was in the game playing against Redmond on Wednesday night at Hodgetown Stadium.

Redmond crushed a 2-2 offering from Brent Teller to left for a two-run blast in the fifth. In the following frame, Redmond turned on a 3-1 heater from Josh Green with the bases loaded and sent it soaring well beyond the wall in left-center for a grand slam.

With two outs in the seventh, he blasted the first pitch he saw from Justin Lewis to straightaway center for a solo blast. Then in the eighth, he completed the cycle with a three-run homer to lead Springfield to a 21-4 win over the Amarillo Sod Poodles.

"So after I hit the grand slam, I had a little thought creep into my mind about maybe the cycle. But then I brushed it off real quick. I was like, 'Come on, this was only my second time with a multi-homer game in pro ball," Redmond told MLB.com. "But then I go up there and hit the solo shot and I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, I can do it.' So then walking up for that last at-bat and seeing two guys on, I'm thinking, 'Oh my gosh, everything is lining up, you can do this. So just stay calm and stay within yourself, but if you get a chance to get a ball to hammer, you better not miss it.' "

Redmond led the Chiefs in home runs last season while hitting .234 and splitting games at first base, second base and left field. He earned a promotion to the Cardinals Double-A farm club at Springfield.

He was a 32nd-round pick by St. Louis in the 2019 MLB Draft and his signing bonus was $3,000. The 6-foot-1, 230-pound power hitter from Middletown, Md., played at Gardner-Webb University, where in 2019 he was Big South Conference Player of the Year after leading the circuit with 18 home runs. He finished with a school record for home runs in a single season (18) and career (50).

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: MLB: St. Louis Cardinals prospect, ex-Peoria Chiefs hits home run cycle