SAN FRANCISCO — Joe Panik was a revelation in his return to the Giants Friday against the Philadelphia Phillies, energizing the team and the AT&T Park crowd with just his presence alone.
His reaching base in each of his first four plate appearances, including scoring a run in the first and batting in another in the second, also helped.
Yet despite all his success Friday, Panik had some nerves when he stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the first after over a month away from the team.
“Being out for four and a half—whatever it was, four and a half, five weeks—you come back, you’re a little excited,” Panik said. “So sometimes you get a little anxious, and, you know, that walk in the first inning really kinda just, ‘OK,’ kind of settled everything down, and kind of got into the flow of the game. But, uh, definitely a little—lot of excitement going into that first at-bat, so it was nice to get a walk. Like I said, just get back into the game that way.”
Panik, who progressed well through his rehab and returned to big leagues sooner than other players that suffered the same injury had, noted that he was pleased with how he progressed through all stages of his recovery.
“I was really happy,” Panik said. “You know, especially, even going to like my rehab games, I was like, you know, ‘I’m where I want to be.’ Swing-wise, physically, seeing the ball, and all that type of stuff. So just coming back, Pivetta, he’s a pretty good, you know, pretty good pitcher, good stuff. So to have a good night off somebody like him was definitely good.”
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