The Giants’ coaching staff under new manager Bob Melvin is rounding into shape.
San Francisco officially announced a handful of coaching hires on Friday, which was highlighted by a few familiar names.
Former Giants third baseman Matt Williams, as Melvin alluded to in a recent interview with NBC Sports Bay Area’s Laura Britt, is joining the staff as the team’s third base coach. Williams played 11 seasons for San Francisco from 1986-1996, where he was a four-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove Award winner and a three-time Silver Slugger. Williams also finished sixth and second in NL MVP voting in 1990 and 1994 respectively.
Former Giants outfielder Pat Burrell, who won a World Series with San Francisco in 2010, will serve as the team’s hitting coach. After retiring in 2011, Burrell returned to the organization as a special assignment scout from 2012 to 2015 before serving as the hitting coach for the Low-A San Jose Giants.
NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic reported that Justin Viele, who served as the Giants hitting coach on former manager Gabe Kapler’s staff, will return as the co-hitting coach alongside Burrell with Pedro Guerrero returning as the team’s assistant hitting coach. Former director of hitting and assistant hitting coach Dustin Lind was let go by the organization.
Melvin’s bench coach is former MLB outfielder and San Diego Padres associate manager Ryan Christenson, who previously spent 16 seasons in the Oakland Athletics organization as a minor league manager and a bench coach on Melvin’s major league staff.
The Giants also announced that a handful of the coaches from the previous regime will be returning next season. Mark Hallberg, who was Kapler’s third base coach, is moving across the diamond to coach first base. Alyssa Nakken, J.P. Martinez and Taira Uematsu also will return to the organization as assistant coaches on Melvin’s staff.
The remainder of the Giants’ coaching staff will be announced in the coming weeks.
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