Former Knight Makes Giant Debut.

August 1, 2014

Alum Matt Duffy Starts at Second for San Francisco at Citi Field

Another former Corvallis Knight has made it to the major leagues.

The San Francisco Giants recalled infielder Matt Duffy (2010) from double-A Richmond on Friday. The ex-Long Beach State standout flew out to center field in his first at-bat and was 1-for-4 on August 1 against the New York Mets at Citi Field in his MLB debut collecting his first big league hit and RBI with a run-scoring single off Jonathon Niese in the 7th in the Giants' 5-1 win.

A native of Long Beach, Calif., the 23-year-old Duffy was having an outstanding season for the Richmond (Va.) Flying Squirrels in the double-A Eastern League when he was promoted. He was hitting .332 (122-367) in 97 games, with three homers and 62 RBIs, and ranked third in the Eastern League in hits (122) and OBP (.398) and fifth in RBIs (62) after Thursday's games. He was also named to the West Division team for the league's All-Star Game.

Duffy played for the Knights the summer after his freshman season for the Dirtbags. He hit .256 with a homer and eight RBIs and earned second-team all-WCL honors in 2010.

His career really took off the following summer, when he hit .346 for the Orleans Firebirds in the Cape Cod League, and made the CCL All-Star team.

Duffy returned to Long Beach State for his junior season, and then was selected by the Giants in the 18th round of the 2012 draft as the 568th overall pick.

Duffy is the second Corvallis Knights alum to be recalled by the Giants in the past week. Catcher Andrew Susac (2009) joined the team last Saturday. Duffy has also played at Salem-Keizer (2012) in the short-season A Northwest League; at Augusta (2013) in the low-A South Atlantic League and at San Jose (2013) in the advanced-A California League during his progression through San Francisco's organization. He has a .304 (286-942) career average, with 13 homers and 135 RBIs in 248 minor-league games.

Matt was ranked as the Giants' 18th-best minor-league prospect by MLB.com earlier this month.

Here's what analyst Jim Callis said about Duffy, who has been a shortstop throughout his college and minor-league career:

"Long Beach State has sent several of its shortstops to the big leagues through the years, with Chris Gomez, Bobby Crosby, Troy Tulowitzki, Evan Longoria and Danny Espinosa all making appearances in the last decade. The next in line is Duffy, who was far less heralded than his predecessors when he signed for $50,000 as an 18th-round pick in 2012.

"Duffy batted .303/.389/.433 in his first full pro season, then he got off to an even better start in 2014. He has a quick bat and controls the strike zone well, though he won't have more than gap power. Duffy's speed is fringy, but he shows some aptitude for stealing bases.

"Duffy is a steady if unspectacular defender. While he lacks the quickness of a typical shortstop, he has reliable hands to go with a solid arm. Duffy may not be able to displace Brandon Crawford as the Giants' starting shortstop, but Duffy could find a role as a utilityman."

He became the 10th Knights' alum to play in the majors. Pitchers Mike Thurman (1992), Tommy Hanson (2005), Bud Norris (2005), Marc Rzepczynski (2006); catchers Chris Stewart (2001) and Susac, and infielders Bobby Scales (1997), Matt Hague (2005) and Brent Morel (2006-07) all reached the majors after playing for the Knights.