Who wouldn’t want to start their Major League Baseball career in the perfect way?
That’s what happened to former Texas Tech Red Raider shortstop Kelby Tomlinson as he made his MLB debut.
He was hitting 15 RBIs and .316 with two home runs in just 33 games in Triple-A Sacramento when he received the call, prompting him to travel all the way to Atlanta the following day.
He was called up to the San Francisco Giants on August 3, 2015, to replace the injured Joe Panik. Panik, the second baseman of the MLB team, has played 97 out of 105 games for the Giants just this season.
The 6 feet 1 Panik was removed from the line-up for 2 of the last 4 games due to a lower back discomfort. After straining his lower back, he took a break on Sunday. But then he was forced to take a leave from baseball when the extra rest he took didn’t help the injury.
The 25 year old second baseman Tomlinson, on the other hand, was previously promoted at the beginning of this season from Double-A affiliate in Richmond, Virginia, where he managed to hit 28 RBI and .324 average in his sixty-four appearances.
This is the seventh consecutive year in which a former Red Raider debuted in the big leagues, as Daniel Coulombe was named by the Los Angeles Dodgers in September. 16, 2014. Tomlinson is on the 29th of former Red Raider who made a debut in one of the 13 they have made for the series from the 2006.
“He’s a good athlete, he can run and steal a base,” Bruce Bochy, manager of the Giants said. He ended up scoring the go-ahead run, but the Giants could not hold the lead. “That was a nice piece of hitting.”
Jerry's major league baseball site 