San Francisco Giants 2017 Player Review: The Infielders

Kelby Tomlinson and Jae-gyun Hwang

Kelby Tomlinson has been an infield option for the San Francisco Giants for three seasons now. He made his debut in 2015 and played a total of 106 games in 2015 and 2016. In 2017, Tomlinson played nearly as many, playing in 104 games. He didn’t begin with the team on Opening Day, primarily because he had a team option to return to the minor league without penalty.

Now, after a permanent stay with the club in 2017, it seems Tomlinson is a lock for the 2018 roster. The biggest question will be what role he will have. With Panik trade rumors and Arroyo a possibility at third base, Tomlinson could end up becoming the default starter. He also could see minimal time if Belt, Panik, Crawford and Arroyo were to play everyday.

Tomlinson clearly did enough in 2017, however, to be a part of the solution in 2018.

Jae-gyun Hwang didn’t have nearly the opportunity as Tomlinson did in 2017. While becoming the first South Korean born player to wear a Giants uniform, he only wore it enough for 18 games played and 57 plate appearances.

It was a huge disappointment, because it seemed he was doing well in Triple-A and showed quite a bit of power there.

And then of course, in game 1 of 18, he did this:

It seemed he was exactly what we were hoping he would be, but he just never got it going and was gone from the major league roster before we knew it.