Alumnus of the Week: Matt Duffy

For the seventh edition of the Volcanoes Alumnus of the Week presented by Salem-Keizer McDonald's, Matt Duffy gets the call.

The 23-year old California native was promoted to the big leagues this week and made his major league debut as the San Francisco Giants starting second basemen on Friday, August 1.

In the fourth at bat of his first game, Duffy connected for his first major league hit when he dunked a base hit into left field, scoring Hunter Pence from third base.

For the Volcanoes, Duffy was the starting shortstop throughout the majority of the 2012 season. At just 21 years old, Duffy's stats did not jump off the page for the Volcanoes, but his consistent ability to make contact and play hard showed promise to the Giants organization.

Duffy was promoted to Augusta to begin the 2013 season, and after batting .307 in 78 games, he took the next step to San Jose, where he hit .292 for the remainder of the season.

Duffy continued working his way up the ladder as he joined the Richmond Flying Squirrels to begin the 2014 season. After batting .332 with 20 steals and 62 RBI in 97 games with Richmond, it's easy to see why the Giants wanted his help in the big leagues.

So far, Duffy has seen just ten Major League at bats and only has the one hit to show for it; but he will get plenty more opportunity. With the left-handed Volcanoes Alumnus Joe Panik also second base, the righty Duffy will likely start against left handed pitchers, as Panik will start against the right handers.

Words can't describe how grateful I am. What a crazy couple of days. Thank you everyone for the kind words and support. Glad we got that W!

- Matt Duffy (@mm_duffy) August 2, 2014

Stay tuned for future Volcanoes Alumnus Player of the Week articles, presented by Salem-Keizer McDonald's, featured every Wednesday on the Volcanoes website and through Volcanoes social media.