The San Francisco Giants are ready for the World Series! The key hit that every Giants fan will remember forever is the three run home run hit by Travis Ishikawa in the bottom of the ninth inning in game 5 of the NLCS. Ishikawa has become an instant hero, he currently has a .269 batting average with 3 extra base hits and 7 runs batted in in the postseason. But Ishikawa’s road to this NLCS moment wasn’t an easy one.
Ishikawa was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 21st round of the 2002 amateur draft. After four years in the minors, he got his first shot with the Giants in 2006 where he only appeared in 12 games and got 7 hits in 24 at bats. A year later, he only played in the minors at the A (adv) and AA level.
Ishikawa finally had a larger sample size until 2009 season in which he played in 120 games with a .261 batting average, 9 home runs, and 39 RBIs. It was until after the 2012 season that his career shifted all over the place.
He started to make multiple trips to the minor leagues and played very little in the majors. In 2013, he only appeared in a total of 7 major league games, 6 with the Baltimore Orioles and 1 with the New York Yankees.
Even in this past season he still played 71 games in AAA for Fresno. After being released by the Pittsburgh Pirates earlier this year, the Giants decided to pick him up and boy has it paid off for them.
A first baseman by trade, Ishikawa has shown some versatility as he is now playing left field as well. In his 47 games this season, he had 20 hits that added up to a .274 batting average.
Ishikawa’s story shows plenty of perseverance and desire. In a post game interview by MLB Network, Ishikawa stated that he considered retirement this year after being released by the Pirates, but he continued to battle and he finally got his opportunity.
This moment couldn’t have happened to a better guy than Ishikawa, after all the ups and downs, he got a chance to become a hero and he took advantage of it.
Even if Travis Ishikawa never plays another game ever again, he will always be remembered and tied to this legendary walk off home run.
Photo Credit: Jeff Chiu/AP Photo