South Korea international star Jae-gyun Hwang got his first career hit in Major League Baseball (MLB) just one month before he became a 30 year old rookie for the San Francisco Giants. The hit happened to be a home run in the sixth inning of a tied game against the Colorado Rockies. The game was the first after Jae -gyun Hwang was called up from Triple A Sacramento, where he had played 68 games and posted a .286 batting average, with 7 home runs and 44 runs batted in. The call up was decided by the Giants when Jae announced he was going to opt out of his contract if they hadn’t called him up before July.
Before his debut, many feared that the bat flip Jae-gyun Hwang became famousfor back home could have been considered outrageous by other players. But his bat drop after Wednesday home run was described as “gorgeous” by Kenny Ducey on Sports Illustrated website: “Full extension out to the left. A momentary halt in kinetic energy. Then, the swift removal of his left hand from the handle down to his side, causing the bat to plummet to the dirt. Goodness, what a cool-ass bat drop”
Jae-gyun Hwang won the first ever WBSC Premier12 in 2015 with Korea. His pro career in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) began in 2007 with the Hyunday Unicorns. After his rookie season, Jae-gyun Hwang moved to the Nexen Heroes and then was traded to the Lotte Giante in 2010. After the 2016 season he became a free agent and was invited to Spring Training by the San Francisco Giants in January 2017.
Jae-gyun Hwang is the 24th player (including him, 13 are active) born in Korea to debut in MLB.
