SF Giants finally end outfielder's long odyssey with surprise Opening Day nod

The SF Giants have not made the playoffs since 2021. Know what else hasn’t happened since 2021? That was the last year that outfielder Jared Oliva, a surprise addition to San Francisco’s Opening Day roster, appeared in a big league game.

That’s right, it’s been almost five years since Oliva played for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In fact, the 30-year-old has only played in 26 career games at the big-league level. 20 of those games came with the Pirates in 2021 and the other 6 came in 2020, also with Pittsburgh. 

SF Giants are rolling the dice on journeyman Jared Oliva

It’s hard to argue that he didn’t earn it, though. The journeyman has bounced around from organization to organization in recent years looking for any sort of shot. He just never really did enough at the plate to earn his way back onto a big league roster which is why it was not met with much fanfare when the Giants signed him to a minor league deal a few months back.

He turned heads quickly in spring training, making a name for himself with his speed and penchant for stealing bases. Oliva swiped 14 bases in the Cactus League and was only thrown out once. It doesn’t come as a huge shock considering he stole 57 bases and was only caught six times in Triple-A last season. 

The Giants have been dying for a stolen base threat like Oliva for years. It seems like every year the team has said it is going to try to get faster and steal more bags. This applies to the Farhan Zaidi regime as well as the Buster Posey era. 

Now the Giants seem to have a bona fide base stealer who can come into games late as a pinch runner and potentially even as a defensive replacement. His speed allows him to play all three outfield positions and with how many tight games the Giants play at Oracle Park, tracking down one extra fly ball or stealing 90 feet late in a game could make all the difference between winning and losing.

To make room for Oliva, the Giants had to DFA outfielder Luis Matos. It was not an easy decision since he has a lot of upside, but Oliva makes more sense as a bench piece than Matos does. We saw last year how Matos struggled to be consistent at the plate with irregular playing time so this is probably for the best.

Oliva was a great story to follow this spring so it will be interesting to see if he can make a big impact on the team. He’s finally getting his shot in the big leagues again after nearly five years so he knows he has to make the most of it.