Joe Panik

Early life

Panik attended John Jay High School in Hopewell Junction, New York. He went to college at St. John's University, where he played college baseball for the St. John's Red Storm baseball team, playing in the Big East Conference. Panik compiled a .398 batting average with 19 doubles, 10 home runs and 57 runs batted in (RBI) during his junior season, ranking tenth among college baseball players with a .509 on-base percentage (OBP). Panik played the first game at Citi Field in a preseason game between St. John's University and Georgetown on March 29, 2009.

Panik earned All-America honors from the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), Baseball America and Louisville Slugger. Panik was also a finalist for the Brooks Wallace Award, an honor given to the nation's top shortstop. He was also a first team ABCA All-Northeast Region honoree, a first team All-Big East selection, and the Red Storm Most Valuable Player.

Draft and minor leagues

Out of St. John's, the Giants drafted Panik in the first round (29th overall) of the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft. Panik made his professional debut with the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes of the Class A-Short Season Northwest League. He led the league with a .341 batting average, 49 runs scored, 54 RBI and a .401 on-base percentage (OBP) for Salem-Keizer, winning the league's Most Valuable Player award. He was rated the tenth best second base prospect prior to the 2012 season and was invited to spring training.

Panik spent the 2012 season with the San Jose Giants of the Class A-Advanced California League, batting .297 with 27 doubles, seven home runs, and 76 RBI in 130 games. In 2013, Panik was promoted to the Richmond Flying Squirrels of the Class AA Eastern League, where he was moved to second base and recorded a .333 on-base percentage and 27 doubles, four triples, four homers. In 2014, Panik started the season with the Fresno Grizzlies of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League, where he hit .321, with five home runs, 45 RBIs, and 50 runs scored in 74 games.

2014

Panik made his MLB debut on June 21, 2014, pinch-hitting for the pitcher in the 8th inning and drawing a walk against Arizona Diamondbacks relief pitcher Matt Stites in a game the Giants won 6–4. Panik's first Major League start came the next day, June 22, 2014, when he batted seventh and played second base. In his second at-bat in that game he registered his first MLB hit. Panik hit his first home run on August 22, 2014 against Doug Fister of the Washington Nationals. It was a 3-run home run (one of Panik's 4 hits that night), which gave the Giants the lead in a game they eventually won 10–3.

On October 16, 2014, in the 2014 National League Championship Series, Panik hit a two-run home run in Game 5 to help lead the Giants to an eventual 6–3 victory over the Cardinals to advance to the 2014 World Series against the Royals. On October 29, 2014, in Game 7 of the World Series, the Giants beat the Kansas City Royals 3–2 to win the series. In the bottom of the third inning with a runner on first, Panik made a diving stop on a ball up the middle and flipped the ball with his glove to shortstop Brandon Crawford to get the lead runner out. Crawford then threw to first to try to get a sliding Eric Hosmer out. Initially, Hosmer was called safe on the play but after a three-minute replay review, the call was overturned for the 4–6–3 double play. It was the first ever overturned call in the World Series since the replay review system was implemented, and the double play was regarded by multiple sportswriters as one of the most spectacular plays in World Series history.

In the 2014 regular season, Panik played in 73 games and recorded 269 at bats. He scored 31 runs and 82 hits. He had 10 doubles and 2 triples along with one home run. Panik also recorded 18 runs batted. He was walked 16 times and struck out 33 times. He did not steal any bases. He finished with a .305 average and an on base percentage of .343.

2015

On April 5, Panik was named to the opening day 25-man roster. On April 22, 2015, Panik hit a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3–2. Panik hit another walk-off nine days later on May 1, a pinch-hit, bases-loaded single against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. On May 3, in a 5–0 win over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Panik batted second and homered off of Jered Weaver right after Nori Aoki homered to start the game. It was the first time the Giants started off a game with consecutive home runs since 1964. On July 6, Panik was selected as a reserve player for the 2015 All Star Game.

On August 3, Panik was placed on the 15-day disabled list with lower back inflammation. He returned for three games in September before he was shut down for the season. For the 2015 season, Panik batted .312, with 8 home runs, 37 RBIs, and 59 runs scored. After the season, Panik revealed that the "back inflammation" was actually a stress fracture of the L5 vertebra and that it had fully healed by December.

2016

Panik played in a career-high 127 games in 2016, hitting 10 home runs and 62 RBIs, although his batting average dipped to .239. Panik missed most of July with concussion symptoms after being hit in the head by a pitch from (future teammate) Matt Moore on June 18. After the season, Panik was awarded his first Gold Glove, becoming the first Giants second baseman to win since Robby Thompson in 1993.

2017

Panik set a Giants franchise record, and tied the MLB record, with 12 hits in a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies from September 4–6. He was the first major leaguer to accomplish the feat since Jerry Remy in 1981.

Personal life

Panik and his wife, Brittany, have known each other since they were children and married in December 2016. He has participated in a baseball clinic hosted by Matt Barnes at the Newtown, Connecticut Youth Academy for elementary school students in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.