Secret to Travis Ishikawa’s outfield defense might be ‘Mike Trout’ cleats
ST. LOUIS — Mike Trout might not be around in the postseason anymore, now that the Los Angeles Angels have been eliminated. But Trout’s shoes play on — while covering the feet of San Francisco Giants outfielder Travis Ishikawa. He wore Trout’s “Lunar Vapor” model cleats, made by Nike, for the first time during Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.
A leading American League MVP candidate again, Trout has a great reputation on defense, especially for stealing home runs. So, as with Michael Jordan in basketball, his shoes must have something to do with it.
“They’re lightweight and I just felt comfortable with them,” Ishikawa said. “I am nowhere near Mike Trout’s caliber — defensively, offensively or anything like that. I definitely felt — my saying was, if I look fast and feel fast, maybe I’ll be fast, so…”
Though he has shagged fly balls in batting practice for years, and worked at it in the minors for a while, Ishikawa hadn’t played left field in the majors until the final weekend of the regular season. Manager Bruce Bochy wanted his bat in the lineup in the postseason, and Ishikawa responded with a memorable performance Saturday night in a 3-0 victory in Game 1 against the St. Louis Cardinals. Included was a sweet diving catch in left that showed off his shoes.
Ishikawa’s contribution was a nice boost for the Giants, but perhaps not as nice as the package a Nike representative left by his locker Thursday before a workout at Busch Stadium. Ishikawa opened it in front of teammate Madison Bumgarner.
“Am I cool enough to pull these off?” Ishikawa asked Bumgarner.
“And he said without hesitation, ‘No.’ “
Bumgarner was joking, at least partly, but he was complimentary after Ishikawa helped the Giants win.
“He’s worked hard at getting ready for it,” Bumgarner said. “And you know what, tonight, I saw he had a new pair of cleats on, he had the Mike Trout cleats, so he decided he was going to play like Mike Trout out there, I guess.”
Trout’s own cleats, the ones he wears in games, are speckled, and actually look like a fish. Ishikawa’s are black and white (Giants colors) and a little more plain. There’s no sense in either the player or the shoe trying to do too much.
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David Brown is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter!
