Jae-gyun Hwang has spent the better part of his life dreaming about the day he’d make his major league debut.
But for all the times Hwang thought about what the experience would be like, he never pictured himself hitting a home run.
“The only thing I’ve imagined is just to set my feet on the field and the grass at AT&T Park and I never even dreamed of hitting a home run here,” Hwang said.
The 29-year-old infielder from South Korea made his major league debut as the Giants’ starting third baseman Wednesday, and authored a storybook ending to an unforgettable day.
With the Giants and Rockies tied 3-3 in the bottom half of the sixth inning, Hwang smashed a 2-0 fastball from Rockies’ starter Kyle Freeland into the left field bleachers to push San Francisco to a 4-3 advantage.
“My focus has been the same as to just basically hit in my zone and nothing else other than that,” Hwang said. “Because I’m a rookie, I figured once it got to a 2-0 count, there might be a fastball coming down the middle and that’s pretty much what happened.”
Two innings after recording his first career RBI on a groundout, Hwang came through with the type of clutch hit that has evaded the Giants all season and helped San Francisco secure its first series sweep of 2017.
Hwang spent 10 seasons in the Korean Baseball Organization before posting with the San Francisco Giants last offseason to give up a successful career in his home country and pursue his Major League aspirations.
After agreeing to a minor-league contract and starting his 2017 season with the Sacramento River Cats, Hwang demonstrated the type of raw power San Francisco has needed in its lineup.
When the Giants were forced to place Conor Gillaspie on the disabled list with a back injury on Wednesday, it was Hwang who received a long-desired call to the big leagues to take Gillaspie’s roster spot.
Though Hwang had plenty of time to prepare and visualize what the day would be like, he admitted after the Giants’ win that he was nervous about stepping onto the grand stage.
“It wouldn’t be true if I had said that I wasn’t nervous at all,” Hwang said. “I was nervous since last night but as the game went on every inning passed by and I felt like I was zoned into the game more and more.”
After San Francisco pulled out a 14-inning victory over Colorado on Tuesday night, the Giants’ bullpen was taxed and manager Bruce Bochy needed to extend starter Ty Blach.
Blach pitched into the seventh inning Wednesday, and was rewarded for his efforts by Hwang’s home run, which allowed him to walk away as the winning pitcher for the fifth time this season, and the first time in his past five outings.
“That was awesome, he (Hwang) had a great spring training for us and all the guys really like him, love his attitude and his energy so everyone was really excited when he hit that and it was a big moment for us being able to get that run and take the lead back,” Blach said.