The California baseball program has five former players on opening day Major League Baseball rosters -  RHP Lucas Erceg (Kansas City Royals), C Korey Lee (Chicago White Sox), MGR Bob Melvin (San Francisco Giants), INF Marcus Semien (Texas Rangers) and INF Andrew Vaughn (Chicago White Sox).

Erceg is coming off a 2024 season in which he was a key member of the Kansas City pitching staff after being traded by the Athletics to the Royals on July 30. Erceg, who had a combined 61 appearances for Kansas City and Oakland, picked up 11 of his 14 saves with the Royals, including in all three games of a sweep at Washington in the final week of the regular season that helped the Royals clinch an American League Wild Card playoff spot. Erceg then saved all three Kansas City victories in the postseason as the Royals swept Baltimore in the best-of-three AL Wild Card Series before dropping three of four to the New York Yankees in an AL Division Series.

Lee hit .210 with 12 home runs and 37 RBI in 125 games for the Chicago White Sox last season

Melvin returned to his native Bay Area and helped the San Francisco Giants improve upon their 2023 record in his first season as the club's manager in 2024.

Semien became the first Rangers' player ever to start back-to-back All-Star Games while playing in 159 games and belting out 23 home runs with 74 runs driven in last year to go along with a .237 batting average.

Vaughn hit .246 with 19 home runs and drove in 70 while also contributing 30 doubles in 149 games as Lee's teammate with the White Sox in 2024.
 
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