The Giants have outrighted infielder Jae-gyun Hwang off the 40-man roster to clear a spot for catcher Tim Federowicz, tweets Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. That means that Hwang won’t receive a September call-up for the Giants, and it likely spells the end of his time in the organization.
A star in the Korea Baseball Organization, where he batted .335/.394/.570 in his final season with the Lotte Giants, Hwang signed a minor league contract with San Francisco this past offseason in hopes of eventually solidifying himself as an everyday option in the Majors. While he posted a solid .287/.334/.458 in 380 Triple-A plate appearances, though, Hwang received only a scarce handful of at-bats with the big league club; in a meager total of 57 plate appearances, he posted a .154/.228/.231 batting line with one homer and one double.
Hwang won’t have the ability to elect free agency until after the season, so the outright effectively ends his first season of American pro ball before he ever got much of a chance in the Majors. It’s not clear at this time whether his camp will pursue further Major League opportunities in 2018 and beyond or if he’ll return to South Korea, where he’d surely draw lucrative offers in the KBO.
Gotta say it doesn’t seem like Hwang got a fair shot with SF at the Major League level especially with the season they’ve had. I think I would have put more faith in Hwang than Sandoval who, predictably, has a .218 BA since returning to SF.
The Giants management are foolish and do not have a clue.
Fact
Yeah, they’re clueless. Never mind all those recent World Series rings. IDIOT
Don’t let the facts get in the way of their biases.
22 years since a Braves World Series win. Lets all stand up and applaud that.
Bochy sucks and I wish he would go away.
I don’t get it – we’re giving Panda at bats but not this guy? I saw Matt Cain pitch last night instead of, well, anyone. Why are they playing these terrible vets when there are guys with potential sitting down in Sacramento?
Because they are so loyal to players its ridiculous. Pablo and Cain shouldn’t be anyhwere near an MLB team
Props to SF for winning the WS in ’10, ’12, & ’14. We all recognize the accomplishments, but to default to that as a defense for hanging onto players who are unproductive is illogical. The Reds won the WS in ’75 & ’76. By 1978 they’d fired Sparky Anderson and began trading away most of the primary pieces of the Big Red Machine most of whom continued to play well into the 80’s. Point is, you can’t hope to sustain success in MLB based on blind loyalty to players.
In this case they knew the season was a loss and brought Sandoval back in hopes to keep butts in the seats. Very disappointed in the way they went greedy on the fans!
Are you really surprised? Hey come see our hometown hero the Panda. Only thing larger then his physical size is his love of SF and its fans. While your art it get or new 2017 Panda hats. Every year they have some sort of gimmick. Hey Belt is so bad in the OF let’s give him a cutesy nickname and then sell that at $40 bucks a pop as a hat. Rebuild? How will we keep our non-sellout sellout streak going if the fans don’t recognize the names on the field. Sure we are one of the worst teams going and have an albatross of a payroll with very little future hope at this point, but remember what Pence did in the 2014 postseason? He is due up next.
You had me until the 3rd sentence with all of the typos. After that I just gave up. Perhaps dictate the comments next time? Dragon Naturally Speaking is your friend.
Ahhhhh the grammer police. The last ditch effort to respond without having a retort or counterpoint. Now where is my panda hat? I’ve been told it makes me look like a gamer.
*grammar
Noo-goo-sae-yo?
I saw this guy play a couple games on TV and he looked decent. Far better than the fat man currently wheezing at 3b for the gnats. Yes I know two games mean nothing. But why throw away a guy without giving him a real shot.
Yeah he seemed ok when I saw him play in Pittsburgh. Wonder if he’ll head back home after this. The sojourn to M(i)LB was a goal of his and he made it!!! Shame SF didn’t give him a bigger chance, but I gotta imagine home is more comfortable. Lee Dae Ho had a fine season last year, for example, and chose to return to Korea this year.
Mets need a 3b. Maybe they can swing a deal.
If any team thinks Hwang is any good, feel free to sign him for thee 2018 season and best of luck.
Exactly. His defense is suspect and his hitting is not good enough to be successful at the MLB level. There was nothing blocking his way at the MLB level but the coaches felt strongly he would not be good. I wish him well. SF should had been the perfect spot for him.