The Giants announced on Friday that Travis Ishikawa will become the new hitting coach for one of the franchise’s two Arizona League rookie ball affiliates. The hiring seemingly brings an official end to Ishikawa’s 15-year playing career — he didn’t play last season after being granted free agency following the 2016 campaign.
Ishikawa was originally a 21st-round pick for the Giants in the 2002 draft, and though he suited up for five other teams over the course of his career, only two of his 15 seasons were spent entirely outside of the Giants organization. That long tenure in San Francisco earned him World Series rings in 2010 and 2014, with Ishikawa playing a particularly notable role in the latter championship year. Ishikawa’s walkoff homer in Game 5 of the 2014 NLCS clinched the series for the Giants and sent them back to the Fall Classic; it was just the fourth time in history that a league championship series had ended on a home run.
Appearing in parts of eight MLB seasons, Ishikawa produced a .255/.321/.391 slash line and 23 homers over 1050 career plate appearances with the Giants, Pirates, Brewers, Orioles, and Yankees. His strong reputation as a defensive first baseman is borne out in advanced metrics, with a 13.2 UZR/150 and +17 Defensive Runs Saved over his career.
We at MLBTR wish Ishikawa a happy retirement from playing, and wish him all the best as he embarks on his new career in coaching.
Nice.
Who cares
I mean, you read the article
You clicked on the article just to post that. Well done. Get a life.
Every giants fan on the planet cares, and since giants fans outnumber 90+% of all other teams, you should teall6 be asking, who cares about You? The answer is obviously no-one. Travis Ishikawa was a fan favorite and a true “feel good” story. He s beloved by fans and has a great attitude about life in general. The Orange and black wish nothing but the best for Travis, and are ecstatic to see him back with the club, yet again!
Haha awesome reply.
You don’t always have to be a star player to be loved by fans. Travis was one of those guys for your fan base
Lol
Obviously you do. Derp
“Hits one into right ! ….. THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT !!!!”
That home run from Travis that night was epic and he will remember that the rest of his life
Forever replay the walk-off. Good luck in your new job.
Good luck Ish.
ISHI!! It’s only right. He should be with the Giants, in some capacity, as long as he wants to. Paniks HR early, then Morse HR to LF, then Ishi with the Walkoff to RF!! Best game I witnessed live since Will Clarks basehit up the middle of Mitch Williams or Brian Johnsons HR that soared over my head to beat LA.
Who!
Eminence front!
The sun shines
And people forget
This is the big offseason re-boot Evans was talking abut : )
Ishi alway a class act.
Ishikawa great Giant. He was crucial in the 2014 WS run and great PH and defensive replacement in 2010. Good job Giants found a gem in the 21st round of the draft. Can’t ask for much better when a player gets drafted that late. That home run will live forever in the hearts of Giants fans. Won’t forget Jake Peavy running on the field after the HR. He didn’t know it was homer thought it hit off the arcade in RF. You have lived a career most of us could only dream. Good luck in coaching. Giant for life.
Whew!!! At a glance I thought the Giants signed Ishikawa as a player (which wouldn’t surprise me), but it’s a relief he’s being added to the minor league coaching staff. I won’t rest easy as long as Gregor Blanco is available.
Class act or not, the guy is a career .255 hitter. Should not be teaching anyone to hit.
Some things can’t be taught hitting wise like bat speed and whatnot. Just cause you aren’t as talented as others it doesn’t mean you don’t know how to hit
Blows my mind that people still make this argument. Walt Hriniak was one of the games most respected hitting instructors and he was a failed major leaguer.
35 points higher than the Giants hitting coach for the last decade or so.
Ted Williams was manager and hitting coach for the Washington Senators for 3 years. The team BA each year he was hitting coach was .251, .238, and, .230. They got worse each year under his tutelage. Clearly, being a good hitter, didn’t guarantee Williams would be a successful hitting coach. Being able to analyse, and communicate are the keys to coach hitting, not the ability to hit.
Players that have truckloads of talent have a totally different experience than players that had to work their butts off just to be the third guy called up from AAA to ride the bench in the majors during a DL stint. Most of the coaches in the league had to learn the game the hard way. There’s exceptions, and it’s very different in some other sports. But in baseball actual baseball talent and the ability to coach are generally inversely proportional.
Yeah, if you think that’s bad don’t look up pitching coach careers. Coaches are generally crappy quadruple-A (if that) backup catchers, utility infielders, and relievers. I thought everybody knew that already.
YKTD You know absolutely nothing about baseball.
Charlie Lau was also a .255 hitter, and he was one of the most influential batting coaches of all time. Walt Hriniak was one of his proteges.
They saw the Yankees hire a journeyman who just happened to hit a historically significant home run in franchise history to coach and said “two can play at that game.”
Wow. Just two years ago, my kid asked me to get him Ishikawa’s player card.
How long until we read a headline “Giants trade Ishikawa for a different Arizona League hitting coach”
Worst player with 2 rings ever?
Irabu (won 2 rings playing just 1 game in postseason (4.2 innings)?
And despite winning “only” 1 ring, Tim Laudner won it after batting .191/.252/.389 in 1987 (.225/.292/.391 career stats)
I’d put Ralph Houk in that consideration. He only played 91 career games, and not a single home run. He still has 2 rings though.
Definitely not
@mlb1225:
And we have some other interesting players as Arndt Jorgens and Charlie Silvera (both backup catchers for Hall of Famers Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra, respectively).
Jorgens didn’t had a single appearance in a World Series game and won 5 rings.
Silvera had 2 at-bats (G2 of ’49 WS) and won 6 rings.
Coincidence (or not) of these players and also of Ralph Houk, they all played for the NYY :P
Luis Sojo has THREE rings!
Opening Day, 2009, bases clearing triple–
“And they ALL-SCORE!”
I believe it’s spelled ‘Ishikawa’
After further thought, I was wrong. Ishikawa will be a good hitting coach. There have been plenty of great hitting coaches who weren’t great MLB hitters. Good move. I should have done more research, sorry guys.