Travis Ishikawa is the right guy in left field for Giants
ST. LOUIS — Travis Ishikawa started the season playing for another team at first base. That didn’t work out. Six months later, he found himself playing left field for the San Francisco Giants after having no major league experience there, and very little in the outfield at all, in 1,200-some major- and minor-league appearances.
And he’s doing OK for himself.
Ishikawa made a diving catch on a sinking liner by Yadier Molina in the fourth inning Saturday night that could have been a disaster, but wasn’t, in a 3-0 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.
Ishikawa also had two of the Giants eight hits — one line drive, and one of the bloopiest bloops ever blooped, which happened to knock in a run. Though his offensive stats don’t make anyone go “whoa,” he’s in the lineup for his bat, along with his ability to handle left field well-enough without many reps out there.
“It’s a fun challenge, though, getting to play a new position,” Ishikawa said. “Things are new. Obviously, I would have liked to gotten a little more time out there before our postseason series.”
Ishikawa came into the playoffs with a total of 29 innings played in left, most of them during the final weekend of the regular season. He could be a big weak spot on defense, but he hasn’t been yet.
Teammate Brandon Belt, who plays first base now but dabbled in left for 231 innings as a rookie in 2010 when the Giants weren’t sure what to do with him yet, has been impressed.
“What he’s doing, it’s pretty tough,”Belt said. “But he makes it look… pretty easy for someone who hasn’t played that much. That was a pretty cool diving play right there.”
Ishikawa admitted the dive might not have been “necessary.” It was just the safest course of action.
“I wanted to just let my momentum keep me forward instead of trying to reach down and grab it and then stand back up,” Ishikawa said. “I feel like a lot of bad things could happen. You could trip over something, you could kick the glove and the ball could come loose. I just allowed my momentum to take me to the ground.”
If Ishikawa muffs the play, the Cardinals might have put two runners in scoring position. Or, if something even worse happens and the ball deflects into no-man’s land, perhaps a run scores. In addition to being outplayed, the Cardinals weren’t getting the same breaks the Giants were.
That he’s in the majors, contributing and playing a new position in the playoffs is one of those unexpected outcomes of baseball. Ishikawa helped the Giants win their first recent World Series title in 2010, but he missed the cut in spring training 2011, injured his shoulder in the minors and was let go after the season. He had some success with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2012, but only had cups of coffee with the Orioles and Yankees in 2013. Many other careers like his would have ended right there, at least as far as the majors go.
Persevering, Ishikawa won the opening-day first-base job for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He didn’t hit well in 38 plate appearances, and the club traded for Ike Davis. They cut Ishikawa, and the Giants signed him to Class AAA Fresno. The Giants promoted him for good at the end of July, and he batted .274 with a .333 on-base percentage and five extra-base hits in 81 plate appearances. Not bad.
Deeper than that, there was something about Ishikawa that persuaded Bochy he could help now, and in left field. They definitely have better defensive options out there, but Bochy wanted something different.
“I’ve got 100 percent confidence in Boch,” Ishikawa said. “If he feels like I give us the best chance out there, then I’m confident in him.”
Ishikawa says he’s confident in Bochy. He’s probably confident in himself too, but he says it’s the manager’s confidence in him that makes the arrangement work. That cracks the code a little on what makes Bochy so respected. He believes in his guys, and they believe in him. It also takes getting the job done, and Ishikawa is doing just that.
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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!
