Anthony Rizzo made his major league debut with the Padres five years ago

On this day in 2011, the run-starved Padres called up their top offensive prospect, first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who immediately made his presence known in his big league debut that night. Rizzo, who was acquired the previous December from the Red Sox along with pitching prospect Casey Kelly, outfield prospect Reymond Fuentes, and fringe utility man Eric Patterson in the trade that sent Adrian Gonzalez to Boston, was hitting .365/ .444/ .715 with 16 home runs and a Pacific Coast League-leading 63 RBI for the Padres' AAA affiliate in Tucson at the time of his promotion.

Rizzo was placed in the starting lineup that night, and struck out in his first trip to the plate. He made up for it his second time facing veteran Livan Hernandez, lacing a triple to deep center field. He made it home on a single by Chris Denorfia to score his first major league run, then went on to collect two walks in his final two plate appearances of the game.

Rizzo smashed his first homer just two days later, but cooled quickly. He finished the season .141/ .281/ .242 in 153 plate appearances over 49 games, with eight doubles to go with that triple and homer. New Padres general manager Josh Byrnes traded him to the Cubs before the next season amidst concerns that his power wouldn't play well at Petco Park and that newly acquired first baseman Yonder Alonso's singles stroke was better suited for the Friars' home field. The Padres got pitcher Andrew Cashner in the trade, which looks more lopsided with every passing day. Rizzo is now amidst what will likely be his third consecutive 30-homer season, and, barring an unfortunate injury or meteor strike, will return to Petco Park next month as a member of his third National League All-Star team.