Conor Michael Gillaspie (born July 18, 1987) is an American former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB)

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

who played for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

and

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

between 2008 and 2017.

Early life

Gillaspie attended

Millard North High School Millard North High School is a high school in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. It is part of the Millard Public Schools district. Millard North partially opened in 1978 for 9th and 10th grade students. In 1981, the second phase of the project was c ...

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

, where he played baseball, football, and basketball. On the strength of a recommendation from umpire and fellow Nebraskan Bill McGuire, Gillaspie was recruited to play baseball at

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

. Gillaspie attended

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

, majoring in geology, from 2006–08. He hit .362 with 58 doubles and 24 home runs over three seasons and was a three-time All-

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

selection. Gillaspie played in the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

(CCBL) during the summer of 2007, leading the league in hitting with a .345 batting average. He led the

Falmouth Commodores The Falmouth Commodores are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Falmouth, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Commodores play their home games at Arnie All ...

to the championship series against the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, but could not play in the series as he had to return to school. He was named league MVP, and is a member of the CCBL Hall of Fame class of 2019.

Professional career

San Francisco Giants

Gillaspie was drafted by the San Francisco Giants 37th overall in the

2008 Major League Baseball Draft The 2008 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft continued Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft of high school and college baseball players, and was held on June 5 and 6, 2008. First round selections ;Key Supplemental first rou ...

. He played only 24 games in the minors before being called up to the majors on September 6, 2008. He got his first major league

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

off

Dan Haren Daniel John Haren (born September 17, 1980) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Haren played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Oakland Athletics, Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Wa ...

on September 16, 2008. He was the first player in his draft class to make his MLB debut. Gillaspie spent 2009 at Single-A San Jose and 2010 in Double-A

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

. He started the 2011 season with Triple-A

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

. On June 5, 2011, Gillaspie was recalled to the major leagues when

Brandon Belt Brandon Kyle Belt (born April 20, 1988), nicknamed "Baby Giraffe", "Sparky", and “Captain”, is an American professional baseball first baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the S ...

was placed on the 15-day disabled list. On September 27, 2011, Gillaspie hit an

inside-the-park home run In baseball, an inside-the-park home run is a play where a batter hits a home run without hitting the ball out of the field of play. It is also known as an "inside-the-parker", "in-the-park home run", or "in-the-park homer". Discussion To score a ...

against Colorado Rockies pitcher

Esmil Rogers Esmil Antonio Rogers (born August 14, 1985) is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher for the Mariachis de Guadalajara of the Mexican League. He previously played in the KBO League for the Hanwha Eagles and Nexen Heroes, and in the Chinese P ...

for his first Major League home run. Gillaspie began 2012 with Triple-A

, hitting .362 with 3 HR and 13 RBI in 23 games before being recalled to San Francisco when

Pablo Sandoval Pablo Emilio Sandoval Reyes (born August 11, 1986) is a Venezuelan-American professional baseball third baseman for the Olmecas de Tabasco of the Mexican League. He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants, ...

was placed on the 15-day DL. He got his first hit (a single) of the 2012 season on June 10 against the Texas Rangers.

Chicago White Sox

On February 22, 2013, the San Francisco Giants traded Gillaspie to the

for minor-league pitcher Jeff Soptic. He became the White Sox primary third baseman in 2013 and 2014. He hit .245 with 13 home runs in 134 games in 2013 and .282 with 7 home runs and 57 RBIs in 130 games in 2014. He was hitting .325 as of July 26, but hit only .209 for the rest of the season. He struggled in 2015 and was designated for assignment on July 19, 2015.

Los Angeles Angels

The White Sox traded Gillaspie to the

for cash considerations on July 24, 2015. He was designated for assignment on August 18.

Second stint with the Giants

In February 2016, the San Francisco Giants signed Gillaspie to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training. He started the season with the Giants' Triple-A affiliate, the

Sacramento River Cats The Sacramento River Cats are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and are the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Prior to 2015, the River Cats were the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics for 15 yea ...

of the Pacific Coast League. He was called up on April 22, and spent the season mainly as a bench player for the Giants. On October 5, Gillaspie hit a three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning of the 2016 National League Wild Card Game off

Jeurys Familia Jeurys Familia Mojica (; born October 10, 1989) is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies and the Bost ...

to break a 0–0 tie, helping the Giants defeat the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

3–0, although the Giants would end up losing the next series to the Chicago Cubs. Gillaspie was

designated for assignment Designated for assignment (DFA) is a contractual term used in Major League Baseball (MLB). A player who is designated for assignment is immediately removed from the team's 40-man roster, after which the team must within seven days, return the pla ...

on August 3, 2017. On August 6, he cleared waivers and returned to the organization to play for the Giants' Triple-A affiliate

. He elected free agency on October 2.

Personal

Gillaspie and his wife Amanda have two sons. Gillaspie's brother, Casey Gillaspie, was drafted in the first round of the

2014 MLB Draft The 2014 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft was held from June 5 through June 7, 2014, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The first two rounds were conducted on June 5, followed by rounds three through ten on June ...

by the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. Since its inception ...

and currently plays for the

Kansas City T-Bones The Kansas City Monarchs are a professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Kansas. Formerly known as the Kansas City T-Bones, they are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball; which, in 2020, became designated as a Majo ...

Of The

American Association of Independent Professional Baseball The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor lea ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillaspie, Conor 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from Omaha, Nebraska Baseball players from Nebraska Major League Baseball third basemen San Francisco Giants players Chicago White Sox players Los Angeles Angels players Wichita State Shockers baseball players Falmouth Commodores players Arizona League Giants players Salem-Keizer Volcanoes players San Jose Giants players Richmond Flying Squirrels players Scottsdale Scorpions players Fresno Grizzlies players Charlotte Knights players Sacramento River Cats players