Left field has been a revolving door for the Giants since Barry Bonds’ retirement, with Joc Pederson becoming San Francisco’s 16th Opening Day left-fielder since 2007. The full list is as follows: Barry Bonds (2007), Dave Roberts (2008), Fred Lewis (2009), Mark DeRosa (2010), Pat Burrell (2011), Aubrey Huff (2012), Andres Torres (2013), Mike Morse (2014), Nori Aoki (2015), Angel Pagan (2016), Jarrett Parker (2017), Hunter Pence (2018), Connor Joe (2019), Alex Dickerson (2020) and Austin Slater (2021).
That’s a truly astounding amount of turnover, especially for a team that’s been relatively successful over that stretch with three World Series and a franchise-record 107 wins last season. Only two teams in MLB history—the Baltimore Orioles (1937-55) and San Diego Padres (2005-21)—have had a longer Opening Day streak of starting a different player at a given position. The Padres’ streak of 17 consecutive Opening Days starting a different left-fielder ended Thursday night with Jurickson Profar manning left field for the second straight year.
Reigning NL Manager of the Year Gabe Kapler tried to stack his Opening Day lineup with as many left-handed bats as possible against Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara, which would explain Pederson—a World Champion for the Braves last fall—getting the nod in left field. First pitch at Oracle Park is scheduled for 4:35 PM ET with Logan Webb, coming off a breakout 2021 (11-3, 3.03 ERA), making his first Opening Day start for the reigning NL West champs.
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