SAN FRANCISCO — Barry Bonds strolled into the indoor batting cage to join his hitters at work and immediately shut the door.

No distractions.

He was the major distraction Friday. No getting around it when you’re wearing a Marlins uniform in your old ballpark.

Bonds is all smiles these days in front of the cameras, seemingly content in his new role as Miami’s hitting coach when initially the job left him longing to get back in the batter’s box and swing for the fences as he used to making his living clearing outfield walls.

“At first in spring training, the emotions (were tough) because I’m used to being on the field with them and being in the dugout watching them biting my lip and going, `Oh, I wish I could do this, oh, I wish I could do that,”’ Bonds said Friday, sitting in the visitor’s dugout at AT&T Park. “You have to take a step back and realize your job is different. You can’t be a player anymore, you have to be a coach.”

In fact, he likes this coaching thing so much he will consider giving it another year beyond 2016. He isn’t ruling out that possibility yet, at least.

Even with all the extra hours at the ballpark spent in the batting cage and studying video, and the early wakeup calls at spring training he had forgotten about since his playing days ended in 2007.

“He’s behaving, I’ll leave it at that,” joked assistant hitting coach Frank Menechino.

In the house that Bonds built, the home run king returned to AT&T Park, hoping for a warm reception in the Bay Area where he grew up and played the final 15 of his 22 major league seasons.

And he got it, bringing out the lineup card before first pitch to a warm ovation and chants of “Barry! Barry!” He tipped his cap.

“It’s good to see him in baseball. It really is. He’s doing what he wants to do,” said Giants skipper Bruce Bochy, who managed Bonds’ final season of `07.

While Bonds isn’t making any big decisions about his coaching future beyond this season, he is enjoying his new role.

“I do like it, I do like it a lot. It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “Miami’s been great, the people have been great, the fans have been great.”