A little over an hour before the Giants concluded their series in San Diego on Sunday, manager Bruce Bochy was forced to make a last-second adjustment to the team’s lineup.
First baseman Brandon Belt was penciled in to hit third in the rubber match between the Giants and Padres, but Belt was scratched after Bochy learned the 29-year-old had sustained a sprained wrist on a check swing on Saturday evening.
With Belt out, the Giants inserted Nick Hundley into the lineup to catch, and shifted Buster Posey from behind the plate over to first base.
As San Francisco gets set to start a 10-game homestand on Monday evening with a matchup against the Indians, the Giants received positive news regarding Belt’s injury, and also adjusted their lineup in a different way to accommodate his absence.
Belt said in the Giants’ clubhouse that even though he wouldn’t swing the bat before Monday’s game, if he experienced as much improvement on Tuesday as he did on Monday, that he thinks it’s possible he’ll return to the lineup.
“He (Belt) just needs another day,” Bochy said. “I think he’ll be okay to go tomorrow. Still a little stiff, my hope is toward the back end of the game if we need him he’s available to pinch hit but he needs another day. So (Jae-gyun) Hwang gets the start at first base, he played a little bit there in Spring Training, in Sacramento he also played there so he’s ready to go.”
Jae-gyun Hwang will start in place of Belt on Monday evening and after playing exclusively at third base since his late June call-up.
Hwang is just 6-for-33 since arriving in the Major Leagues, but the 29-year-old South Korean is putting together strong at-bats. Bochy said Monday that he’s hopeful Hwang’s numbers will begin to improve, because he’s certainly been impressed by his approach at the plate.
“Really to be honest, you look at the numbers, you think they’re not great but they’re pretty good at-bats,” Bochy said. “Even his last one, I’m sure he’s not used to coming off the bench and the second at-bat he had two strikes and he made good hard contact to short there but he’s very well prepared when he goes up there. He studies all these guys. He probably knows as much about their pitchers as any of them.”
Hwang was a star third baseman in the Korean Baseball Organization before signing with the Giants this offseason to pursue his Major League dream, and has only begun focusing on first base this year.
“About seven or eight years ago, I used to be the backup first baseman for my team, but Sacramento was the first time I was doing it on an everyday basis,” Hwang said through an interpreter.
Hwang began the season with the Sacramento River Cats, but after hitting seven home runs and driving in 44 runs over the first three months of the season, the Giants called him up the Major Leagues to help out at third base while Eduardo Nunez was on the disabled list.
“Because the time I had playing in Sacramento at first base every day, I feel pretty comfortable over there,” Hwang said. “I would say it’s pretty similar.”
Ryder Jones update
Prior to Giants’ batting practice on Monday, Hwang took groundballs over at first base and was joined by 23-year-old Ryder Jones who remains on the disabled list with a right wrist contusion.
Jones said that he spent the weekend in Arizona working with the Giants’ rookie league team, but said Monday marked the first time he’d swing the bat since suffering his injury in Pittsburgh in early July.
Jones has primarily played at third base and in left field in the Giants’ organization, but said he worked at first base frequently during his time in the Arizona Fall League during the offseason and appeared in roughly 10-to-15 games at first base with Sacramento this season.
“He’s (Jones) been playing some first down there,” Bochy said. “He’s played some left field too, so we’re trying to keep our guys versatile so in case something happens up here, there’s more than one option for them. He can play first. He’s a good third baseman, he’s got a great arm and left field I think fits for him. But I think first base would probably be easy for him.”
Jones is eligible to come off the 10-day disabled list, but Bochy said he’ll begin a rehab assignment in Sacramento on Tuesday to gain some at-bats before returning to the Major League level.
