San Francisco Giants’ Revolving Door in Left Field Continues to Spin

When Barry Bonds joined the San Francisco Giants ahead of the 1993 season, he didn’t just bring his big bat. He brought his Gold Glove in left field, and held the starting job for the next 15 years, albeit with some short breaks in between. Since Bonds’ “retirement” after the 2007 season, the position hasn’t been the same for San Francisco.

Over his 15 seasons with the Giants, Bonds won five Most Valuable Player Awards, hit 586 home runs, and was an All-Star 12 times. But beyond the accolades, Bonds brought stability. Not only was he the most feared hitter in baseball, but he was trotting out to left field just about every single day.

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Bonds played 1,968 games, out of a possible 2,354 in left field, good for 83.6 percent of the team’s games in his time with San Francisco. Only twice did the Home Run King play in less than 100 games at the position over an entire season. In 1999, he was held to 95 games with an elbow injury, and in 2005, he missed the first five months of the season, and played in just 13 games in left, following a knee injury that required multiple surgeries.

Stability in left field has been non-existent for the Giants in the past seven years, since Bonds took the field for the final time. 31 different players have started a game in left field for San Francisco, including everyone from Brett Pill, to Kensuke Tanaka, to Jeff Francoeur. Just four players have started more than 100 games over the seven-year period.

Fred Lewis, who was once thought of as Bonds’ potential successor, leads the way with 170 starts. Pat Burrell has 136, perennial fourth outfielder Gregor Blanco has 111, and Melky Cabrera started 101 games before making his way out of town.

Over the past seven seasons, seven different players have started in left field on opening day for the Giants. Dave Roberts held the position in 2008, Lewis in 2009, Mark DeRosa in 2010, Burrell in 2011, Aubrey Huff in 2012, Andres Torres in 2013, and Michael Morse started in 2014.

That trend figures to continue in 2015, as Nori Aoki is slated to be the Giants’ opening day starter this season. Aoki, the former Kansas City Royal and Milwaukee Brewer, was signed in the offseason to a one-year deal, with a team option for 2016, so stability is not in the immediate future either.

Mar. 20, 2015; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; San Francisco Giants outfielder Nori Aoki against the Cincinnati Reds during a spring training game at Scottsdale Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

But at least for this season, the position seems more likely to have some short-term stability. In 2014, Aoki played in 132 games, which is the lowest total so far of his three-year major league career. Aoki has proven to be very durable throughout his professional career. Over the past 10 years, between the MLB and Japan, Aoki has averaged 141 games per season. Also take into consideration that the Japanese seasons are about 20 games shorter than MLB’s seasons.

In eight seasons in Japan, Aoki hit .329 for his career, including hitting over .340 four different seasons. Since coming over to the United States, he’s hit a very consistent .287, never deviating more than two points from that career average over a whole season. Aoki is a perfect “keep-the-line-moving” type of player, which fits very well with the Giants’ gameplan.

With Hunter Pence‘s injury, there was talk that Aoki could move into right field, but that was nixed as Aoki isn’t the world’s greatest defender, and right field in AT&T Park is notoriously tricky. Instead, the likely move is to see Blanco slide into the lineup in right field, which would basically assure that Aoki would be the opening day left fielder.

If that scenario plays out, Aoki would become the 32nd Giant to start a game in left field since the 2008 season started, and the eighth different opening day starting left fielder in as many years. But he also seems like a good candidate to become just the third player in that span to start at least 100 games in left in a single season.

Aoki’s signing may not bring the long-term stability that teams crave. It may be nothing more than a one-year rental. But the short-term outlook with Aoki on board is very good.