Rookie catcher Tromp gets his first major league hit
Tromp, a rookie from Aruba, gets first major league hit(s)
SAN FRANCISCO >> Giants catcher Chadwick Tromp kept his eyes on Texas Rangers right fielder Joey Gallo as he rounded first base. Tromp wanted to make sure the ball he just hit through the infield for a single didn’t leave his sight.
“It’s going to go home, and it’s going to be in my house, and it’s going to be in a glass box, and it’s going to stay there for as long as possible,” Tromp said Friday of the keepsake from his first major league hit in the fifth inning in what became a 9-2 Giants win.
“It’s probably going to be in the middle of my house, to be honest with you.”
Tromp also had an RBI double in the sixth inning in what was his second career MLB game, setting off what he felt was sure to be a party back home in his native Aruba.
Per baseball-reference. com, Tromp is only the ninth player from the small island off the northern coast of Venezuela to reach the major leagues. Only one other, Xander Bogaerts of the Boston Red Sox, is active.
“The community back home, they’re going nuts,” Tromp said. “It’s crazy. People are celebrating. The whole island is practically celebrating. I love it because we’re such a small island — and it’s very important to them because it puts us on a bigger scale and shows the world that we’re a small island, but we also do big things in life.”
“I think there’s a ton of people celebrating on behalf of Trompy today,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said Friday. “When we told him he was going to make his major league debut, it was a pretty emotional moment for him, and rightfully so. When a guy gets his first major league hit, there’s usually someone in the dugout (waving) to the field, essentially a sign that we need to get that ball.
“What I thought was really interesting in today’s game was everybody was making that motion. Everybody wanted to make sure we got that ball for him.”
Just getting to this point was an accomplishment in itself for Tromp, who was on his way to play college baseball seven years ago when he had a chance encounter with a major league scout.
Tromp told KNBR on Friday that he was asked by a friend, a pitcher, to catch a bullpen session for him in front of a pro scout. Turns out, the scout liked what he saw from Tromp and asked if he had signed with another team.
After the scout saw him play in a game, Tromp was signed by the Cincinnati Reds.
Tromp slowly and steadily climbed up the Reds’ system and was playing Triple-a on a full-time basis by the time he was 23. In August of 2018, though, he tore his labrum and needed surgery, and didn’t return until last July.
Tromp hit. .286 with a .999 OPS in 26 games for Triple-a Louisville last season. He then chose free agency and signed a minor league deal with the Giants, the first team to contact him, in January. He also knew Donnie Ecker, who was the Reds’ assistant hitting coach for the 2019 season before he was hired by the Giants to be their hitting coach in December.
Tromp didn’t stand out during spring training. But after Buster Posey opted out of the season, Tromp got a second chance in the team’s summer camp and intrasquad scrimmages.
Tromp got the news from Kapler on Monday that he was going to activated the following day, when the Giants also announced that Rob Brantly had been designated for assignment. Tromp then called his family back home, starting with his girlfriend. The couple has a 10-month old child.
“I’m lost at words,” he wrote on Twitter with a photo of his Giants jersey hanging in a locker. “This is more than a dream come true… WELCOME TO THE SHOW KID!”
For now, with the Giants resisting any temptation to reach for Joey Bart, it appears Tromp and Tyler Heineman will be sharing the catching duties..
“It only takes literally looking at film from last year from behind the plate and looking at film from this year, and it’s a complete 180,” Heineman said Saturday. “He’s really turned himself into an extremely good receiver and it’s been fun to watch.”
“If you don’t believe in yourself, nobody else will,” Tromp said. “I truly believe hard work works, so there shouldn’t be any doubt. The moment you sign a contract to become a professional baseball player, your mindset should always be that you are a big leaguer, but you’re just not there yet.
“That puts you in a mindset that you’re just going out there every day and showing yourself that you can do it.
“To me, there was never a doubt.”