Dale Says

Connor Gillaspie, who may well be part of the Giant’s future at third base, got his first major league hit Tuesday night against the Diamondbacks. He’s now one-for-three, with the prospect of getting a little more time at third and a few more at-bats yet this season. My guess is his first hit felt really good, and I hope it’s the first of many for this scrappy young third baseman.

Connor was born in Omaha July 18, 1987. That makes him 21 years and 63 days old (I have shoes older than that), and he told the SF Chronicle that he “just went through puberty two or three years ago.” Connor was a star in high school, then chose Wichita State (instead of Nebraska) as his college — a fact the fans in Nebraska are still lamenting. He had an excellent senior year (.419 batting average and 11 home runs in 60 games) and led the Shockers to the College World Series his senior year. The Giants drafted him as the 37th overall pick in the supplemental round earlier this year and after a couple of months of negotiating with the Giants he signed a contract and was sent to play for the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes. He was playing well there when he was called up to the big leagues earlier this month for a little exposure.

So is Gillaspie ready to be the Giant’s next third baseman? Probably not. He’s still got a lot to learn and needs to prove he can play at a minor league level. But he’s got a good attitude (he says he doesn’t expect favors and doesn’t expect people to do things for him) and he’s likely going to be another piece of the future for the Giants. Even if he spends all of 2009 in the minor leagues, he would still be just 23 in 2010 and would have a lot of years left to help the Giants.