With two swings of the bat, Conor Gillaspie became a postseason hero for the San Francisco Giants, but the third-baseman who delivered clutch hits last October is far from the man who the franchise drafted nearly a decade ago.
San Francisco selected Gillaspie with the 37th overall pick on June 5th, 2008 but the Giants rushed him to the big leagues only three months later due to a verbal agreement which stated the team would promote Gillaspie in September when the rosters expanded.
As a 20-year-old with only 24 minor league games under his belt at the time of his debut, Gillaspie couldn’t gain acceptance from teammates who believed he did not earn the promotion.