Longtime KBO star and former SF Giants infielder announces retirement from pro baseball

Longtime KBO star and former SF Giants infielder Jae-gyun Hwang has decided to call it a career after nearly 20 seasons in pro ball, per a team announcement. Hwang had an opportunity to return to the KT Wiz for a ninth season, but decided to hang up his cleats.

Longtime KBO star and former SF Giants infielder announces retirement from pro baseball

Hwang’s pro career in the KBO began with the Hyundai Unicorns in 2007, where he was a 19-year infielder. He spent one year with the Unicorns before moving to the Woori Heroes.

The first half of Hwang’s pro career included a seven-year run with the Lotte Giants. His best season came in 2016, where he posted a .964 OPS with 27 home runs and 113 RBI in 559 plate appearances.

Not surprisingly, the right-handed hitter had interest in moving stateside after that year. In 2017, he latched on with the Giants on a minor league deal. This included a camp invite.

That was an interesting spring training. They extended camp invites to a lot of big league infielders, many of whom were looking to break camp with the club. 2007 NL MVP Rollins was among those who were invited to spring training, as was Gordon Beckham.

The Giants also did not begin the season with an everyday left fielder, so they experimented with a lot of different options. Hwang was one of the many players to be included in that experiment, but it did not get off the ground. He only appeared in two games in left field with the Sacramento River Cats.

Hwang did not make the club out of spring training, but put up respectable numbers with Sacramento before earning a mid-season promotion. His major league debut was a memorable moment in a forgettable season for a team that went on to lose 98 games.

The veteran bat launched a home run in his first career game to steer the Giants to a 5-3 win over the Colorado Rockies. That home run came off longtime Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland, who is still with the club.

Hwang put up a .459 OPS in 57 plate appearances with the Giants before being sent outright to Sacramento and then returning to the KBO for the remainder of his career. It is rare for a player to hit a home run in his major league debut, but it is even rarer for that to be his only career home run.

The 38-year-old infielder spent the past eight seasons with the KT Wiz. We at Around the Foghorn would like to congratulate him on a long and successful career, and we wish him the best in his future endeavors.