Jul 14, 2023; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; San Francisco Giants hat and glove on the bench against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first inning at PNC Park. Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Giants Legend Has Historic Start Nearly Matched by Marlins Young Star

Originally posted on San Francisco Giants on SI
By Kenneth Teape | Last updated Jul 11, 2025 11:00 AM ET

The San Francisco Giants have had plenty of legendary players don their uniform throughout the franchise's history. Still, none have gotten off to the kind of start in their career in road games as Willie McCovey.

Back in 1959, he began his Hall of Fame career with a bang away from San Francisco, getting the job done with regularity when the team was on the road.

McCovey was tearing the cover off the ball on the road to begin his career, needing only 32 games to reach the plateaus of 20 singles, 20 extra base hits and 10 home runs.

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Reaching those numbers over the course of any 32-game span is incredibly impressive, let alone while playing on the road in hostile environments as a rookie.

It should come as no surprise that the record for fastest games to those marks still stands today, but they were nearly matched by Miami Marlins star rookie Agustin Ramirez this year.

On July 7 against the Cincinnati Reds, he went 2-for-4 with a home run and double, giving him his 20th extra-base hit away from the Marlins' home stadium of loanDepot Park.

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It was only his 33rd road game of his career, just missing the all-time mark set by McCovey 66 years ago with the Giants.

Agustin Ramirez has 20 singles, 20 XBH and 10 home runs through the first 33 road games of his MLB career.

The only player to debut in the modern era (since 1901) to reach 20 singles, 20 XBH and 10 home runs in fewer career road games is Willie McCovey (32). pic.twitter.com/fSkGxDcSLu
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) July 8, 2025

He has performed incredibly well on the road with a .285/.312/.575 slash line with 10 home runs, 12 doubles, one triple and 23 RBI, going 43-for-151 at the plate.

Ramirez was originally signed by the New York Yankees as an international free agent in 2018 before he even turned 17 years old for $400,000.

He remained with the Yankees until last year, when he was dealt to the Marlins as part of the package to land Jazz Chisholm Jr. ahead of the trade deadline.

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Overall this season, Ramirez has a .249/.296/.487 slash line with a 113 OPS+. He has hit 14 home runs, 19 doubles and one triple with 40 RBI as one of the most productive offensive players for Miami this season.

San Francisco certainly wishes they could get that kind of offensive production from behind the plate, where Patrick Bailey has struggled with his bat for the third consecutive year.

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This article first appeared on San Francisco Giants on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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