LOS ANGELES–When San Francisco announced it had traded Eduardo Nunez to the Boston Red Sox, Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy knew he had a problem on his hands.
Not only was Nunez the second-most productive hitter on the Giants’ roster outside of Buster Posey, he was the team’s only right-handed hitting third baseman.
So when Nunez was shipped East on Tuesday evening, Bochy responded on Wednesday morning by announcing that San Francisco would have a roster move on Friday afternoon.
“I think it’s going to be important that we do have a right-handed hitting third baseman,” Bochy said.
Though Conor Gillaspie is perfectly capable of playing third base and hitting against right-handed pitchers, Bochy felt compelled to add a righty to the roster because San Francisco is set to face three straight left-handed starters in Los Angeles this weekend.
The choice for who San Francisco would bring back on Friday was an obvious one: Jae-gyun Hwang was on the Major League roster for most of July, and had filled in for Nunez when the Giants’ starter was on the disabled list with a strained hamstring. How San Francisco would move to activate Hwang, well, that wasn’t as simple.
Because the Giants’ optioned Hwang from San Francisco to AAA Sacramento on Saturday, July 22, Hwang began Friday morning technically ineligible to return to the active roster. MLB rules stipulate that an optioned player must remain in the Minor Leagues for 10 days prior to receiving another call-up, unless Hwang was replacing an injured player.
And when San Francisco finished up its series victory over Pittsburgh on Wednesday, it wasn’t immediately clear that the Giants had a player in immediate need of a stint on the disabled list.
Yet on Friday afternoon, when it came time for the Giants to open their clubhouse, Hwang was in Los Angeles, and reliever Chris Stratton was headed to the DL.
“Calf, the calf was bothering him (Stratton) a little bit toward the end of that game so we went ahead and placed him on the 10-day disabled list,” Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said.
Stratton threw four innings in relief of Madison Bumgarner after earning his second call-up of the season on Wednesday, but at least temporarily, the Giants will be without Stratton’s services. Though it’s unclear if Stratton is seriously injured or just taking one for the team to free up a roster spot for Hwang, the Giants have their right-handed third baseman, and he’ll hit sixth on Friday evening.
Though Hwang was just 6-for-36 in his first Major League trial, the Giants believe he’s the only right-handed hitting third baseman in the organization prepared for big league pitching.
Keep in mind, this is an organization that now boasts a switch-hitting third baseman named Pablo Sandoval who’s currently competing for the AAA Sacramento River Cats, but after signing Sandoval to a Minor League deal on Saturday, Bochy said he wanted to let Sandoval get settled in the Minor Leagues before making a decision about calling him up.
So enter Hwang, a former Korean Baseball Organization star who signed with the Giants this offseason to pursue his dream of playing in the Major Leagues.
It took Hwang nearly three months of playing for the River Cats, but he finally earned his first chance with Nunez and Gillaspie on the DL in late June. Though Hwang was resigned to playing in a reserve role when Nunez’s hamstring healed up, his family had traveled from Korea to watch him play and arrived the day the Giants optioned him back to AAA.
“They came over for the games against the Padres, and then I heard that I was getting sent down the day that they arrived,” Hwang said through a translator. “The plan was that they were going to fly with me to Los Angeles, so they kind of had to do their own thing and travel, and right now they’re traveling in Vegas. But I told them that we were going to be back so they’re on their way back to LA to come see the game.”
One of the reasons Hwang’s family chose this particular week to visit the United States is because Hwang is celebrating his 30th birthday on Friday, and with his call up, the family will be reunited in time to enjoy the evening together.
“Obviously the big leagues is a little bit better than the minors, so it’s a little bit special of a birthday present,” Hwang said.
Another reason Hwang’s parents planned to follow the Giants to Los Angeles is because on Sunday night, San Francisco is set to face Hyun-Jin Ryu, an old friend of Hwang’s from Korea.
So after having to face the reality of spending his birthday in the minors instead of the majors, missing an opportunity to square off with Ryu, and missing the chance to play in front of his parents, Hwang’s call up offered him a giant sense of relief.
“I was looking forward to it obviously because my friend plays for this team and I was a little disappointed to be honest when I got sent down because I was going to miss the series but it’s good to be back and playing here,” Hwang said.
Though the Giants had to jump through quirky medical hoops to bring Hwang back before he was technically eligible to return to the club, he’s excited to be in uniform and he’s got the potential to be offer the Giants a rare feel-good story to celebrate.