Happy birthday, Jae-gyun Hwang.
Six days after the San Francisco Giants optioned Hwang to AAA Sacramento, Hwang is set to return to the team’s 25-man roster on Friday in Los Angeles on his 30th birthday.
Hwang is penciled into the lineup and will play third base and hit sixth, but the Giants have yet to announce that he has officially been activated.
The return of Hwang is an unusual transaction for San Francisco because the club optioned him to AAA Sacramento on Saturday morning, and MLB rules stipulate that a player must spend 10 days in the Minor Leagues before returning to the roster he’s been optioned from. However, those same rules also state that an optioned player may return if he’s replacing a player headed to the disabled list.
So while San Francisco has not announced who’s injured, the Giants will need to make their roster move official prior to the start of Friday’s game against the Dodgers.
Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy felt compelled to add a right-handed hitting third baseman to the team’s roster after San Francisco traded Eduardo Nunez to the Red Sox on Tuesday evening. Though Conor Gillaspie is capable of playing third base, Gillaspie is a career .204 hitter against left-handed pitchers and the Giants are facing three southpaws in Los Angeles this weekend.