The Giants’ coaching staff continues to be overhauled, as Shayna Rubin and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle report that assistant hitting coach Damon Minor and bullpen coach Garvin Alston won’t be part of the 2026 staff. Hitting coach Pat Burrell is also “unlikely to be part of the major league staff” but he’ll remain in the organization in another capacity.
Alston has been the bullpen coach for the last two seasons, and was pitching coach for the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate from 2021-23. Prior to arriving in San Francisco, Alston was the Twins’ pitching coach in 2018, a bullpen coach for the Diamondbacks in 2016 and the Athletics in 2017, and worked with the A’s in a variety of different minor league coaching and coordinator roles from 2005-15.
Minor will leave his role after just one season, but his time in the Giants’ organization stretches back a full decade due to nine years as the hitting coach at Triple-A Sacramento. It isn’t known if Minor could also be retained in a different capacity, or if the Giants are moving on entirely.
Assistant hitting coach Oscar Bernard will be the only member of the hitting coach trio remaining if Burrell also departs. “Pat The Bat” was the first overall pick of the 1998 draft, and his 12-year playing career concluded with two seasons with the Giants (and a championship ring as part of their 2010 World Series squad). Post-retirement, he remained with the Giants as a special assignment scout and then as a hitting coach with A-level San Jose beginning in the 2020 season.
San Francisco batters hit a collective .235/.311/.386 in 2025, with a 97 wRC+ that ranked 17th of 30 big league teams. The Giants similarly finished below the league average in all three slash line categories, as well as 19th in home runs (173). While the challenges of hitting at Oracle Park are well-known, a lot more was expected from a Giants lineup that added Willy Adames last winter, and Rafael Devers at midseason.
Bottom-line numbers aren’t always the reason why a team might be inspired to make a coaching change, yet the Giants’ decision to part ways with Alston is unusual since the team’s bullpen was a strength in 2025. Even after Camilo Doval and Tyler Rogers were dealt at the trade deadline, San Francisco still finished the season with the fourth-best bullpen ERA (3.48) in baseball. One weak point, however, was the bullpen’s lack of strikeouts, as the relief corps’ 21% strikeout rate ranked 25th in the league. This isn’t necessarily a strike again Alston’s work, of course, and if anything it could be viewed as a positive that he was able to get strong results out of a pen that didn’t miss many bats.
A managerial change usually leads to changes on the coaching end, so it isn’t too surprising that a lot of new personnel will be joining Tony Vitello as fresh faces in the San Francisco dugout. Burrell, Minor, and Alston join J.P. Martinez, Ryan Christenson, and Matt Williams as coaches departing the staff. Martinez is going from the Giants’ pitching coach to a bullpen coach job with the Braves, and Christenson is going from being the Giants’ bench coach to becoming the Athletics’ new first base coach. In terms of incoming coaches, Jayce Tingler is the only new coach known to be joining the Giants’ ranks to date, with Tingler’s role yet to be revealed.
Bring bonds in for hitting coach
Timmy and Cain for bullpen coaches
Why, do they need someone to give out drugs?
It’s just water, you had it in you the whole time.
Give the marlins a call. They tried that. Briefly. The man who hired him (under the Owners orders) still laughs about the absurdity of the move and the resulting failure.
No to all. With his inexperience, he needs coaches who have been around and you definitely don’t need the distractions with Bonds
Won’t help unless Bonds brings the cream and the clear.
Hateful, willfully ignorant & uninformed…possibly time for a meds assessment.
Truth hurts
still best to ever do it, leagues ahead of the other guys on roids while facing pitchers on roids
Have Grace Slick sing the national anthem on opening day and you can build that city on rock and roll
Pat the Bat taking the bench coach spot in Philly maybe?
Don Mattingly will be the new bench coach in Philadelphia. His son is the GM and he was in NY with Thomson. It’s almost a done deal by what insiders from the Phillies are saying.
I wouldn’t want him on the Giants staff.
Where is Matt Williams going? I didn’t see it in this post
Matt Williams name was listed
Matt Williams said he wasn’t returning when Melvin was released, per Slusser.
Simple:1.Contact
2.Less DPs
3.Situational Hitting
PLUS the ability to bunt and use the team’s speed.
You would love Mike Shildt then. Dude LOVES to burn, even when it makes no sense.
Status quo with coaching staff wasn’t an option. Believe in Posey, Minasian & Vitello bringing in new blood to shake things up with fresh, new ideas
Posey wants to win & is going to do whatever it takes to make the Giants successful
Except convince Johnson to spend on starting pitching.
Baseball, your issue isn’t about Posey convincing Johnson. You need someone to convince Posey. Corbin Burnes? Rodon? Montgomery? etc etc. Unless you have the McFly almanac, it won’t happen AND it shouldn’t. Stick to your cream jokes.
Yeah. Posey has stated young pitching is the barometer of a healthy org. I’m guessing he isn’t disagreeing on trying to stay away from long term older guys.
I believe in Posey & his leadership – It’s time to turn the page & maximize the abilities of the young talent & leverage the vets experience- The Bluejays approach seems impressive & formidable for the long term.
Pat “No Bat” in the 2010 WS. 0-13 with 11 strikeouts
Losing Martinez hurts. The rest meh.
Williams let go awhile back.
Yea, they didn’t mean that “bat” when he got his nickname
Ha ha. I didn’t know that. Makes sense. He rolls like a man with big bat self assurance.
Cocky ?
There are very good stories on the internet if you look for them. Bat was an animal.
The opposite ! The quiet confidence of a man packing some serious weaponry. The cocky dudes to be the compensators.
He was “The Gimp”.
And The Machine.
Post season stats are tiny samples and are worth zilch. His performance in the 2010 NLDS helped them get to the WS that year.
It was a great pick up all right.
Ernie Clement had over 70 at bats this post season, not that tiny of a sample. So did Jeter back in the day.
If Will Smith went 0-13 with 11 K’s this World Series would be very different.
“Post season stats are tiny samples and are worth zilch” What are you talking about? They could be the most important ab’s of the year or a player’s career.
@Non Roster Invitee baseball is a team sport. Pat Burrell was a big part on the Phillies and Giants making it to 2 World Series appearances.
Team sport I forgot. All I did was mention some his batting stats in the 2010 World Series.He did score a run though.
Sure, PS ABs are important. But Important ABs, and those same ABs as an informative statistical base are 2 entirely different things.
Barry Bonds, in 4 different NLCSs hit a cumulative .203/.390/.329, .720 OPS. So Bonds wasn’t a good hitter?
Some Hall of Fame guys like Joe Morgan have struggled in the PS. Morgan never hit well. In 7 different series, his career playoff total, he hit .182/.323/.348 .671 OPS.
Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell both stunk in the 2005 WS which probably had something to do with the Astros loss.
The only thing that PS stats tell you is whether a player had a good series or not. It says zilch about their career, ability, or anything else. Not understanding that is not understanding an important element of baseball.
Wrong.
Kike Hernandez’ postseason is his career. Bobby Thomson’s home run is all anybody knows about him. Even HOF’er Carlton Fisk is remembered for his homer. Joe Carter? Who can say one regular season stat about him? It’s all about his Grand Slam to win the World Series.
All at bats are important in the postseason.
I bring up Pat Burrell’s crappy 2010 World Series performance because he was fired as a hitting coach and all the PB apologists come crawling out of the woodwork.
That’s absurd. You’re confusing two different things. One is having a reputation for, or being known for certain accomplishments. That’s not the same thing as a baseball players’ career.
Kike Hernandez played in 1,275 games. That’s his career, not the 103 games he appeared in in the PS. He’s known for out-performing his regular season numbers, but that’s not his career. If someone wants to know what his career numbers are they’ll see the 1,275 regular season games.
Joe Morgan is recognized as a great player with a HoF career. His failure to produce at the same level in the PS is merely secondary. Bobby Thomson is famous for the HR, but that’s not his career. He’d be in the HoF if it was. He isn’t
You can’t have it both ways, and say Hernandez’s, and Thomson’s career is the PS and Morgan’s, Bagwell’s, and Biggio’s isn’t.
Again, I agree all ABs in the PS are important. But they aren’t a statistical basis for telling you anything except whether that player had a good series.
Thanks for agreeing with me. Again.
Well, if one agreement among the vastness of all your inaccuracies does it for you, then good for you.
Post season stats are tiny samples and worth zilch. Thank you for that inaccuracy.
So you believe that 13 ABs is not a tiny sample? Okay. Enough said.
13 ab’s is not a TINY sample. Especially in the World Series.
Burrell had one of the worst World Series ever. No hits and 84% k rate. Up there with Dal Maxvill.
You’re still confusing a player having a bad series with its informative value. Any player, even the best, can have a bad series.
In the 1951 WS, in 22 ABs, Willie Mays had a line of .182/.250/.182 for an OPS of .432.
In the 1922 WS, in 17 ABs, Babe Ruth had a line of .118/.250/.176 for an OPS of .426.
In the WS last year Ohtani had a line of .105/.227/.158 for an OPS of .385.
Those tiny samples tell you absolutely nothing about Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, or Shohei Ohtani, or their HoF careers.
I know Mays had a poor ’51 WS
I know Ruth had a poor ’22 WS
I know Ohtani had a poor ’24 WS
So it did tell me something informative.
You said in your first post that postseason stats are tiny samples worth zilch when players get 70+ at bats in one postseason run!
I guess we should throw away all postseason stats and just focus on the regular season.
Burrell was let go by the Giants and I threw out a stat and you went down some rabbit hole.
“So it did tell me something informative.”
Yes I’ve said it multiple times already. It tells you that that player had a poor series. But the point has always been that they tell you absolutely nothing more than that.
Very few players get 70 ABs in a single PS run. That takes either a WC team getting to the WS or all series’ going to an elimination game. Derek Jeter played in the PS in 16 separate years. He had 70 ABs in a single postseason once. But we we’re talking about a guy with 13 ABs, not 70. Plus a great player can stink for 70 ABs at any point in time.
Don’t be ridiculous. I never even suggested throwing away all PS stats. You seem to be getting hysterical now.
Burrell was at the end of his career and had been previously released by the Phillies and Rays. He caught lightning in a bottle with the Giants. What does it prove that he was released by the Giants in 2011? What’s your point?
And if it was such a rabbit hole why have you been ceaselessly defending the ridiculous belief that 13 ABs is not a small sample?
I agree. Post season stats mean nothing. Bumgartner had a very below average overall career.
Say it to his face, and he’ll whop you with that extra T you used in his name.
Imagine caring about 13 Ab
Oh no! Not Pat Burrell!
Is nothing sacred?
Well, the house is cleaned.
SFG looking to start fresh. I like it.
Change is good. Let’s hire some new guys.
Yeah mate. No disrespect to the fallen but clean them out. Fresh, new, clean slate, let’s go. Love it.
Best news of the day/week/month!
It wouldn’t have bothered me had they maintained the pitching coaches, but I am so glad the hitting coaches are out. Giants’ hitters had the collective worst approach at the plate this season.
I saw a little improvement from Casey, but yes you’re right, nobody else.
The funny thing about Schmitt to me was he improved his chase rate quite a bit, and it was still not good.
He didn’t have enough ABs to qualify in 2023 and ’24 on Baseball Savant, which is too bad because I’d love to see just how bad it was. But with his improvement in 2025, he still ranked in the bottom 26th percentile for chase.
They really need scouts who can get upper hand on evaluating prospects as their minors are very shallow in depth.
No idea on the feasibility, but I wonder if they will start drafting high schoolers and then have them develop in the minors. Effectively bring the Uni of Tennessee baseball program to their low minors.
Actually, it seems to be the opposite. What I’ve read is that Posey sees college as increasingly important in developing players for MLB. I’m sure they’ll continue to draft some high-schoolers, just not necessarily more. Of course, it depends on the player as always.
Ok then. I’ll stop wondering about that one. Thanks
Matrac:13 at bats in a four game series is just about average. Not tiny.
I don’t understand you. You make no sense to me.
84 players have had 70 or more at bats in a postseason + six this year. LOL “very few”.
Read my first post. It was a throw away stat because he was let go + two other comments. But you took Burrell and ran with him.
I disagree with everything you’ve said. I’ll leave it at that.
13 ABs in a 4 game series can be both typical and a tiny sample. That’s not mutually exclusive. Just because it’s about average doesn’t make it anymore statistically informative.
You’re bad at math. 84 players over the many years of playoff baseball is a small percentage. Figuring on 8 starting position players, and 12 teams making the PS means a minimum of 96 players with the chance to get 70 ABs. 6 out of 96 is also a small percentage. LOL indeed.
And again. 70 ABs is still a small sample, and any great player can have a poor run of 70 ABs. For Example, Aaron Judge had a streak of 70 ABs from 7/9 to 8/15 this season, and had a line of .186/.326/.400 for an OPS of .726. You know that Aaron Judge is a very good hitter right? If anybody were to place any importance on those 70 ABs they’d think Judge was not a good hitter.
Read my post about Burrell’s release. He was at the end of his career and had been released twice before. He posted an OPS of .611 in the 2nd half. That’s why he was released, not because of 13 ABs in the PS. Thinking that those 13 ABs were why he was released and not his obvious decline in the 2nd half is silly.
You lack the ability to think critically, and your thinking is probably the most muddled of anybody I’ve encountered on this site. Of course you don’t understand my posts. I’m not surprised. I’ve backed up my assertions with stats, and all you’ve offered is nothing but the uninformed opinion of someone that does not understand statistics, let alone baseball. And I will leave that at that.