BIOGRAPHY
Matt Duffy was born January 15, 1991, in Long Beach, California. He is an infielder in the MLB.
Duffy was called up to the Giants and played his first game in the major leagues on August 1, 2014. However, Duffy's MLB debut is officially recognized as May 22, 2014, as the Giants' game at the Colorado Rockies that day was suspended due to rain and resumed on September 1. Duffy entered the resumed game in the bottom of the sixth inning at second base, striking out in his only at-bat. In the 2014 regular season, Duffy played in 34 games and had 60 at bats. He recorded 16 hits and 5 runs while batting .267/.302/300. In Game 2 of the 2014 National League Championship Series, Duffy scored the tying run from second base on a wild pitch in the top of the ninth inning. He recorded a speed of 20.3 miles per hour when he raced from second to home. Duffy was also one of five rookies eligible to play against the Royals in the 2014 World Series. In the 2014 World Series, at age 23, he was the youngest player on the Giants' 25-man roster. By this point in his career, the knobs of his bats were decorated by cartoon "Duffman" decals.
Duffy was invited to his first spring training in 2015, where he hit .361 and earned the Barney Nugent Award, given to the player in his first Major League camp whose performance best exemplifies the spirit of the club. On April 5, Duffy was named to the Giants' opening-day 25-man roster. He hit his first major league home run on April 15 against the Colorado Rockies. On May 10, Duffy hit a walk-off, bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat the Miami Marlins 3–2. On May 12, Duffy set new career highs with 3 hits and 5 RBIs, helping the Giants to an 8–1 victory over the Houston Astros. Duffy was the first Giants rookie to collect 5 RBIs in a game since Buster Posey on July 7, 2010.
As a utility infielder, Duffy played all four infield positions during April and May, but he primarily played at third base as regular starter Casey McGehee struggled. On May 24, 2015, Duffy was awarded the starting third base job for the Giants after McGehee was designated for assignment. In June, Duffy batted .313 with 6 doubles, 3 triples, 5 home runs, and 15 RBIs, eventually working his way up to third in the batting order. On June 27 and 28, Duffy came up one hit short of hitting for the cycle in back-to-back games, needing a triple the first time and a single the next day. On July 10, Duffy had a career-high four hits in a 15–2 rout of the Philadelphia Phillies. The next night, Duffy hit a two-run, go-ahead triple in the sixth inning as the Giants came from behind to defeat the Phillies 8–5. For the third time, Duffy came up one hit shy of hitting for the cycle, needing a home run this time.
On July 25, Duffy knocked in the go-ahead run in a 2–1 victory over the Oakland Athletics. The following day, Duffy drove in three of the team's four runs as the Giants completed a three-game sweep of the A's. On August 4, Duffy tied his career-high with four hits, including the game-tying RBI double in the top of the eighth inning as the Giants came from behind to defeat the Atlanta Braves 8–3. On August 14, Duffy hit his tenth home run of the season off Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals, finishing 3-for-3 with a single, double, and home run, falling one hit short of the cycle for the fourth time.
On October 2, Duffy won the 2015 Willie Mac Award for the team's most inspirational player, the first rookie to win in the award's 35-year history. Duffy finished his first full major league season batting .295/.334/.428 with 12 home runs, 6 triples, 28 doubles, 169 hits, and 77 runs scored. Duffy's 77 runs batted in were the most by a Giants rookie since Dave Kingman drove in 83 in 1972. Duffy was a Gold Glove Award finalist and he finished second to Kris Bryant in the NL Rookie of the Year voting.
On May 7, 2016, Duffy hit a walk-off double in the bottom of the 13th inning to defeat the Colorado Rockies 2–1. On June 21, Duffy was placed on the disabled list with an Achilles injury. For the season with the Giants, he batted .253/.313/.358.
On January 27, 2023, Duffy signed a minor league contract with the Kansas City Royals organization. On March 27, it was announced that Duffy would be added to the Opening Day roster.