Barry Bonds will return to Giants as a spring training instructor

Barry Bonds left baseball in 2007 and has kept a relatively low profile ever since.

That will change sometime next month when baseball’s all-time home run leader will become a spring training instructor for his former team, the San Francisco Giants.

Manager Bruce Bochy said Saturday he thinks Bonds, 49, will be an asset to the Giants’ hitters.

Makes sense, seeing that Bonds holds the major league records for career home runs (762) and home runs in a season (71). He also had a .444 career on-base percentage and a .607 slugging percentage.

Still, there are many who believe that Bonds was aided in achieving those numbers by performance-enhancing drugs. That’s the reason he hasn’t been elected to the Hall of Fame.

But if there’s one place he is loved it’s San Francisco, where fans give him a warm reception every time he’s introduced at AT&T Park.

Other former Giants who will serve as special instructors include Jeff Kent, Robb Nen, Will Clark and J.T. Snow. Bonds and Kent famously feuded as Giants teammates in 2002, when cameras caught the two in a shoving match in the dugout.