Giants give ‘bad apple’ Gillaspie a second chance

Of all the players who were active in the majors last year, infielder Conor Gillaspie might be the last guy anyone would expect to see in the Giants' clubhouse this spring.

Yet here is is, on a minor-league contract, hoping to win an infield bench job with the team that picked him in the sandwich round of the 2008 draft

To establish myself as a person, more than anything, goes long way in a big-league clubhouse because there's been a lot of clubs, they have their bad apples, they have their guys yout can't approach and can't talk to.

Gillaspie's maturity on and off the field came in Chicago after the Giants finally raised the white flag and traded the former Wichita State standout to the White Sox before the 2013 season.

In 2014 broke out with a .282 average and .752 OPS in 464 at-bats.

Gillaspie left a big impression on the Giants when he went 4-for-8 with a double in a two-game interleague series in 2014.

Gillaspie has little pop for a third baseman but a short, left-handed swing that generates line drives when he is on.

With Duffy approaching ironman status as a rookie last year, Gillaspie might have have been better off going to one of the other clubs that offered him a minor-league deal.

Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.