A big day Wednesday for Adam Duvall, who played baseball at the University of Louisville during the 2009-2010 seasons. Duvall saw his first game as a major leaguer when the San Francisco Giants called him up from the Fresno Grizzlies in the Pacific Coast League.
A special game, a special day, even though he didn’t crack the lineup, made even more special as right-hander Tim Lincecum, tossed a no-hitter and the Giants defeated the San Diego Padres 11-0.
This from the San Francisco Chronicle:
What a day for Duvall. He flew in from Austin, Texas, where the Grizzlies were playing, showed up at first pitch, donned his new No. 37 Giants uniform then got to join the celebration on the field when Lincecum finished the no-hitter.
“I jumped on the pile and I got to be a part of it,” Duvall said with an ear-to-ear smile. ” To be able to witness that my first day here, it was a little hectic, a little awesome.”
And this:
Duvall, 25, was the Giants’ 11th-round pick in 2010 out of the University of Louisville and was leading the Pacific Coast League with 23 home runs when he got the call. He largely plays third base, but manager Bruce Bochy plans to give him occasional starts at first base, allowing Michael Morse to play in left field.
Stats in the PCL can be inflated, but as manager Bruce Bochy said, “I don’t care where you are. That’s a lot of home runs. We saw him in spring training. He’s got easy power. You’re never going to hit as many home runs here as in Triple-A, but he’s got that power.”Nobody in the room has seen him more than second baseman Joe Panik, who rose through the Giants’ system with Duvall and saw the right-handed hitter’s transformation over the past few seasons.
Hitting has become so easy for Duvall, “It’s almost like a video game for him,” Panik said.
Update: Duvall started Thursday at first base for the Giants, going 1 for 3, a home run, in his third at bat, in a 3-1 loss to Cincinnati.