Giants’ Heliot Ramos knows why his defense spiraled, expects improvement: ‘No excuse’

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — When the 2025 season ended, it took Heliot Ramos at least two months to stop ruminating over how poorly he played defense in left field. 

The San Francisco Giants outfielder can trace the beginning of his mental spiral to July 20 in Toronto, when Bo Bichette hit a line drive to left off Robbie Ray and Ramos sprinted into the shallow field to make a play, only to realize the ball was sailing way over his head to the wall, scoring a pair of  runs to give the Blue Jays a 3-1 lead. 

“That was kind of a big deal for me mentally,” Ramos said. “I was like, ‘Oh, my god, I gotta do something. I gotta fix my stuff.’”

Pressuring himself to play better defensively had the reverse effect on his defense — and just about everywhere else in his game. 

Ramos earned his place as a presumed outfield starter in 2024 when he took a fill-in call-up and turned himself into an irreplaceable part of the Giants’ lineup with supreme confidence and a potent swing. But last year he began overthinking every play, and it carried over to his offense. He made questionable baserunning decisions, and the pressure to make up for his blunders caused him to press at the plate at times. It didn’t help that Ramos has been dealing with plantar fasciitis, ailing him since 2024 (and leading to a compensation hamstring injury late that year). 

It all resulted in a decidedly meh year overall, compared to his All-Star 2024 season, and particularly dismal defensive numbers. His minus-9 outs above average ranked in the league’s bottom 3rd percentile while the Giants’ outfield defense had a minus-15 OAA, worst in the National League.

“Last year was my first full year in the big leagues,” Ramos said. “There’s no excuse, obviously, it doesn’t matter, but I saw how quick the game can get on you if you get in your head. I was working a lot mentally, a lot physically, trying to feel my best, trying to be my best.”

Not until December, the first time he stepped back on a field at the team’s complex in Arizona, did Ramos begin the process of getting out of his own head. By that time, the Giants had hired manager Tony Vitello and a new coaching staff along with him. 

That included first base coach Shane Robinson, Giants executive Buster Posey’s former Florida State teammate with baserunning and outfield coaching expertise in the Giants’ and New York Mets’ organizations. 

Robinson reached out to Ramos with pointers for how to get right again. Ramos has an above average arm, and in 2023 and parts of 2024 he was playing a serviceable center field. Robinson gave Ramos tips on footwork, but the most significant guidance came from an evaluation of last year. By Robinson’s estimation, Ramos was positioned a bit too far back. It was meant to amplify Ramos’ strength — statistically, he is best coming in at flyballs instead of moving back — but it caused Ramos to have to chase the ball and often messed with his reads. This season Ramos will have a more standard positioning. 

“I’m not saying they did a bad job of positioning me; at the end of the day I have to take the right route,” Ramos said. “He told me we’re going to work angles and try to be quick to the spot, but then slow down and control my body and feet. Then I can get behind the ball and the ball isn’t going to bounce as much. 

“The athletic ability, I have all the way. I know I’m strong and I’m not the fastest guy in the world — I don’t fly like (Trea) Turner — but I can run, I can move. So I have to use that to my advantage.”

Ramos started to gain confidence again shagging balls in the outfield during impromptu workouts with his teammates who arrived in Scottsdale in early winter. Having an assertive voice like Gold Glover Harrison Bader in center field should benefit Ramos and right fielder Jung Hoo Lee, too. 

“You know how Oracle Park gets. Fans are loud, fans are great,” Ramos said. “So at the end of the day, it’s about how we move in practice, how we move in games and communicate before every pitch. Overall, Bader is going to make us better. Not because he can get the impossible ball.”

Ramos feels his confidence cup filling to the brim again.

“This is something, through the minor leagues, I never had a problem,” he said. “I know I’m not going to be a Gold Glove center fielder, that’s for elite guys like Byron Buxton. But me, I know 1,000% I can be a Gold Glove left fielder because of the athletic ability I have.”