This story was excerpted from Maria Guardado’s Giants Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
ATLANTA -- Reflecting on his seven-year tenure with the Giants brings back plenty of good memories for Mike Yastrzemski.
He made his Major League debut in San Francisco as a 28-year-old rookie in 2019 and established himself as a mainstay in the outfield, emerging as a key piece of the Giants’ franchise-record 107-win team in ‘21. He enjoyed his share of personal highlights, too, delivering a walk-off splash hit against the Reds last season and a thrilling walk-off grand slam against the Brewers in 2022.
But the 35-year-old veteran also came to cherish another unexpected part of the San Francisco experience: Learning to master right field at Oracle Park.
“Honestly, I know this may sound crazy, but I genuinely miss the challenge of playing right field,” Yastrzemski said. “I really took pride in playing right field out there and having so much fun trying to figure out every little nook and cranny, every bounce off the wall. Figuring out why each flag was blowing in a different direction, even though they're right next to each other. There were definitely little nuances that I missed a lot.”
Yastrzemski was back in right field on Tuesday night, though this time it was for the Braves, whom he joined on a two-year, $23 million deal over the offseason. It marked the first time Yastrzemski has played against the Giants since they traded him to the Royals in exchange for pitching prospect Yunior Marte at last year’s Trade Deadline.
While he’s nearly a year removed from donning the orange and black, Yastrzemski said he still keeps in touch with many of his former teammates and has continued to follow the Giants from afar.
“The city, the team will always have a place in my heart,” Yastrzemski said. “It was the first place I ever played in the big leagues. I'm always keeping tabs, checking in on how guys are doing, how the staff's doing, whether it be text, calls, reading up on it. It’s something that I'm probably never going to lose, no matter what.”
The Giants-Braves ties don’t end with Yastrzemski; super-utility man Mauricio Dubón and first baseman Dominic Smith are also with Atlanta, along with former San Francisco coaches J.P. Martinez and Antoan Richardson. Pete Putila, who served as the Giants’ general manager under Farhan Zaidi, and Michael Schwartze, the club’s former director of baseball analytics, ended up landing new roles with the Braves, as well.
The connections led to many on-field reunions before Tuesday’s rain-suspended series opener at Truist Park. Yastrzemski took some time to catch up with several of his old friends, including fellow outfielder Jung Hoo Lee, who has taken over as the Giants’ starting right fielder in 2026.
Lee, who played center field before ceding the spot to newcomer Harrison Bader this season, said he reached out to Yastrzemski at the beginning of the year for some tips on playing right field at Oracle Park.
Lee has settled in nicely at the spot, as evidenced by the unbelievable catch he made at the wall to rob Michael Busch and help right-hander Logan Webb get through eight innings against the Cubs on Sunday. Aside from his improved defense, Lee has been enjoying a breakthrough year at the plate, where he’s batting .331 -- second in the Majors behind the Marlins’ Otto Lopez -- with an .809 OPS over 64 games (including Tuesday's plate appearance, a sacrifice fly).
“I'm happy for him,” Yastrzemski said. “He's playing so well right now. I talked to him a little bit at the beginning of the year, and he was kind of struggling a little bit. It was nice to see it paying off for him because he works his tail off.”
Yastrzemski will see a lot of the Giants this month, as the Braves will head to San Francisco to play a series at Oracle Park from June 26-28, giving him a chance to return to his old stomping grounds as a visiting player for the first time.
“To play there was an honor, honestly,” Yastrzemski said. “It’s such a historic franchise. It’s something I'll never forget, my kids will never forget, [my wife] Paige will never forget. It'll be really cool to just have a little bit of memory come back right now, but also when we come out there in a week.”