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Turner Ashby's Brian Bocock Makes Major League Debut as Giants' Shortstop

For Brian Bocock, 23-year-old son of Pam and Tom Bocock of Dayton, his story writes like a good Hollywood script. The club’s veteran major league star goes down with knee surgery. The franchise looks deep into its farm system for a solid defensive replacement and taps a promising, young Class-A shortstop from the California League on the shoulder, offering him a rare opportunity to prove himself at the game's highest level. Fast-forward a few short weeks to the end of Spring Training. The rookie earns a starting position at shortstop and makes the most of his chance, turning heads and double-plays along the way.

This is just how it happened for Brian and the San Francisco Giants. While it might make for a great sports movie, the cameras at the field on opening day were not those from a movie studio, even though the venue for Brian’s first major league game was only minutes away from Hollywood at storied Dodger Stadium. Instead, ESPN cameras were there to broadcast to a national audience this opening game and another, admittedly more publicized, first — Joe Torre’s first game as the new Los Angeles skipper. Yet Brian handled his own debut in the midst of all the media frenzy, not to mention in front of the 56,000 rival Dodger fans in attendance along with millions of other baseball fans watching at home, with a confidence and sureness that impressed all.

"I was so concentrating on the task at hand. I wasn't worried about how many layers of bleachers there were or how many towers of people were watching," Brian told the San Francisco Chronicle after the game.

It did not take long for coaches, teammates, opponents, spectators, and anyone else watching to figure out that the former Turner Ashby High School and Stetson University star was going to be just fine holding down the shortstop position till 11-time Gold Glove winner, Omar Vizquel, was ready to return. It is Brian’s glove, after all, that has drawn rave reviews at every level he has played.

"Range, arm, everything -- he's a Major League shortstop," commented Giants manager Bruce Bochy about Brian on MLB.com prior to opening day. According to Baseball America, he was tagged the top defensive infielder and strongest infield arm among all Giant prospects.

Meeting those expectations, his performance has been just what the Giants wanted and needed. At the time of writing, Brian is hitting .333 and is perfect in the field. He ranks tied for 2nd in the National League in stolen bases and walks and 7th in on-base percentage.

Just a few highlights from his early experiences include a good tag at second base to complete a strikeout - throw out double-play from catcher Bengie Molina to end the game in the Giants’ first win of the season (click picture at left for larger version); a number of other solid double-plays, a snare and strong throw from deep in the hole to nail the Dodgers’ Andruw Jones at first base, his first big league hit in the 2nd inning of game 2, a drawn walk with bases loaded to earn his first RBI in the 7th inning of game 2 (see picture below), and good discipline at the plate to get on base with walks on multiple other occasions.  Traveling to Wisconsin, Bocock went 2-3 at the plate in the first of the 3-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers.

 

Brian Bocock’s dreams to see big league action have come true. He is now approached for autographs (click pic at left for larger version) and his baseball cards rise on eBay (click to see his Bowman Chrome card at right). Many players toil in the minors for years, just hoping for the one chance to prove themselves at the major league level. And for many, that day never arrives. For Brian, he’s definitely making the most of this precious opportunity.

Congratulations, Brian! RCPS wishes you many years of continued success!

 

Pictures courtesy of the Bocock family who traveled to Los Angeles to see Brian's Major League debut. Click to see larger versions of each image.
Brian's first Major League hit in the 2nd inning of Game 2 with the Dodgers	Brian's on-base percentage is among the tops in the National League.
Brian takes infield practice before the game	Brian and brother, Kevin, in Los Angeles before Brian's debut
A huge crowd assembled for opening day at Dodger Stadium!	Warming up prior to the start of the game