SF Giants news: Chadwick Tromp gives burst of excitement in debut

Who is Chadwick Tromp and how did the SF Giants acquire him?

San Francisco Giants catcher Chadwick Tromp had the highlight of the week after recording his first hit and RBI in the 9-2 victory against the Texas Rangers on Friday night.

In only his second start of the young season, Tromp gave the Giants an extra jolt after tallying his first big league hit.

Tromp came over to the San Francisco as a minor league free agent before the 2020 season and forced the Giants hand after stringing together a bevy of quality at-bats in Spring Training 2.0. This included plenty of loud contact as well as a couple of home runs.

The right-handed bat did not make the Opening Day club due to a hamstring injury. Given how impressed the Giants were with him, it was only a matter of time before he made his debut.

Before signing with the Giants, Tromp spent the first seven seasons of his career in the Cincinnati Reds organization.

In those seven years, the 25-year-old posted a .257/.321/.381 line with 23 home runs and 155 RBI. However, his bat did show signs of improvement as he rose through the minor league ranks.

Tromp missed substantial time in 2019 after sustaining a rotator cuff injury.  When healthy, he recorded a stout .286/.389/.610 line with seven home runs and 21 RBI in only 90 plate appearances in Triple-A. This included a stretch where he homered in five consecutive games.

In addition to this, the long-time Reds farmhand always possessed a strong glove with the ability to effectively frame pitchers.

With Buster Posey’s decision to opt-out of the 2020 season, Tromp emerged as a legitimate catching option since the Giants were extremely thin on catching experience.

Tromp is not one of the options that had any major league experience before the start of the 2020 season. Both Tyler Heinemann and Rob Brantly had a bit of a track record in the past, but light nonetheless.

Posey’s opt-out created an opportunity for the internal catching options and Tromp is taking advantage of this in the early going. He recorded his first big league knock on Friday:

Of course, it did not take long for Tromp to record yet another first. In the very next at-bat, the catcher scorched a laser down the left-field line for an RBI double.

His game was not only a personal achievement, but it was a big deal for his native country Aruba:

This season has seen a lot of unfamiliar faces make an early impact for the Giants in 2020. Tromp is one of many, and he launched his first home run on Sunday as well. Mike Yastrzemski had a walk-off home run, which was considered too.

That said, there is always something special about knocking your first major league hit and that is why it is the highlight of the week.