The SF Giants will continue a tradition like no other in left field to start the year

It has been nearly two decades since Barry Bonds took his last at-bat in an SF Giants uniform. This started a trend (curse?) that will continue into 2025 as Heliot Ramos is slated to be the Opening Day left field, becoming the 19th different left fielder to start the first game of the season for the Giants since 2007.

The SF Giants will continue a tradition like no other in left field to start the year

If you can name the other 18 left fielders to start for the Giants on Opening Day since 2007, then you deserve a prize. I do not know what that prize would be. Maybe a field trip outside.

In doing this for as long as I have, I have those names pretty much stapled to the back of my hand. They range from Mark DeRosa (2010) to Jarrett Parker (2017) to Connor Joe (2019). The baton is now being handed off to Ramos.

Interestingly, the San Diego Padres had a similarly long stretch in left field. They went 17 straight years with a different left fielder on Opening Day. That streak began in 2005 and was snapped in 2022 when Jurickson Profar made consecutive Opening Day starts in left field.

Could that trend finally be coming to an end for San Francisco? Ramos burst onto the scene by slashing .298/.365/.523 with 14 home runs and 46 RBI in 263 plate appearances during the first half of the season. He snapped another longstanding tradition by becoming the first homegrown Giants outfielder to be selected to the All-Star game with the team in nearly four decades. Chili Davis was the last to do so in 1986.

The young Giants outfielder fizzled in the second half of the year. Overall, he had a solid stat line, as he posted a .792 OPS with 22 home runs and 72 RBI in 518 plate appearances. Hey, while he is at it, he might as well go for 30 home runs to break another tradition.

While his first-half performance last season was not sustainable, the Giants are counting on Ramos to be a 20-homer bat in the middle of the lineup. If he has another successful season, he might break the trend in left field in 2026. Or, if the Giants have a sense of humor, they could start him in right field on Opening Day next year and shift him to left field after one inning.