The Giants have announced a broad shake-up of their coaching staff, which will remain under the charge of skipper Bruce Bochy. Most notably, perhaps, the team will shift long-time bench coach Ron Wotus to third-base duties while filling the resulting opening with Hensley Meulens, who had been the hitting coach.
Wotus has been on the San Francisco staff for two decades, most of it as the bench coach. He has filled that job under three different managers, in fact, and has often been cited as a managerial candidate himself. Now, though, he’ll cede the job to Meulens, who (per the announcement) will “take over the day-to-day administration and participate more directly with Bruce Bochy’s in-game strategy.”
In other moves, the Giants have added Matt Herges as bullpen coach and decided to keep Jose Alguacil (first base coach) and Shawon Dunston (replay/on-field instructor) in their current roles. The club bid adieu to Phil Nevin, who had functioned as the third base coach.
Additionally, the Giants have reassigned the rest of the pitching and hitting staff members. Long-time pitching coach Dave Righetti will move into the front office as a special assistant to GM Bobby Evans, with last year’s bullpen coach Mark Gardner taking on a “special assignment” role. Assistant hitting coach Steve Decker will become a baseball ops “special assistant,” per the club.
Evans explained the moves, which are fairly notable but perhaps aren’t all that surprising after a miserable 2017 campaign, as driven by a need to maintain the team’s “edge” in a highly competitive industry. It’s necessary, he says, “to constantly infuse new ideas and energy at every level of the organization, on the field and in the front office.”
There will be a few new voices in the dugout, too, though their identities remain undetermined at this point. In the wake of today’s announcement, the Giants still need to hire a pitching coach, hitting coach, and assistant hitting coach. The club says it is still conducting interviews for those jobs.
