The Giants are expected to add Justin Meccage as their pitching coach, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Meccage has spent the majority of his coaching tenure in the Pirates’ organization. He was most recently a minor league coach in the Brewers’ system.
After a brief playing career, Meccage got his coaching start in the college ranks. After seven years spent between the University of Texas-Pan American and Arkansas State University from 2004 to 2010, Meccage headed to the pros. He became a minor league pitching coach for Pittsburgh in 2011. Meccage moved through multiple levels of the minors before taking over as minor league pitching coordinator in 2017.
Meccage got his first big-league gig in 2018 as assistant pitching coach for the Pirates. He transitioned to bullpen coach in 2020, a role he held through 2024. Meccage was a Triple-A pitching coach for Milwaukee this past season.
New manager Tony Vitello’s staff is slowly coming together. San Francisco added Hunter Mense as hitting coach last week. Meccage will replace pitching coach J.P. Martinez, who was hired by Atlanta to be their bullpen coach. Martinez had been on the Giants’ staff since 2021.
San Francisco ranked 10th in ERA last season. The staff will be headlined by Logan Webb and Robbie Ray, though the options beyond that tandem are uncertain. The bullpen lost closer Camilo Doval at the trade deadline, then saw replacement Randy Rodriguez go down with an injury that led to Tommy John surgery. General manager Zack Minasian said the offseason plan will involve adding pitching depth.
Photo courtesy Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images
Shoulda been Cain or Timmy maybe mad bum
Nah
Bumgarner as a pitching coach would be tragically awful. I cannot express how awful that idea is.
Coaching requires patience, Madison Baumgartner wasn’t exactly known for his patience… lol
You also want a coach that is bought in to the current rules of the game, madbum was very vocally against the pitching clock. You can’t have your coaches causing that kind of rift in your pitching staff. SF needs young blood and a new way of thinking, not old dudes shaking thier fist at the clouds.
Also SF doesn’t need any more nostalgia hires or friends and family hires. I don’t want former players from the World Series days, I don’t want Posey’s former roommate from college, I want to see qualified people.
I wonder what this guy’s qualifications are? Seven years in the minors followed by two years as an assistant pitching coach. Then he was demoted to bullpen coach and fired three years after that. By the Pirates! Must be an old, old pal of Tony’s.
@champ Old dude? Madbum is 9 years younger than Meccage.
Ya, He lost me there as well.
Had good points except that though.
Madbum has the mentality of an old man, especially when it comes to baseball.
You’re not wrong about his old school views of the game and the so called unwritten rules. As an old man, I am offended of the “mentality”reference.
I’ll get over it though, cuz I’m wise.
None of those guys need a job.
At least it wasn’t the , football slider needs to be named after me guy.
Get over it dude, it’s a sweeper.
Looks to me like the game is moving away from hiring big names because they have big names.
So Rich Aurillia, Stan Javier, Kurt Manwaring not coming back as coaches? C’mon at least gimme a Brandon Belt or a Billy Swift. Not sure Kevin Mitchell would be interested though. Dang it!!
we just had matt williams who was one of the worst 3rd base coaches we have ever had
Brian Wilson maybe ?
No it shouldn’t
it is pretty hard to underplay how bad of an idea that is
??? We’ll See. Pitching wins championships. And the G’s need horses a pen and a closer. All Healthy.
Oof, happy for him, but sucks he isnt with Milwaukee anymore. He wasn’t in Milwaukee long, but multiple guys singled him out as a big reason for their success. Everyone raved about the work he did with Miz, and Myers credited him with teaching him that splitter. He is a “grip doctor”.
Good work, Russell ! Thanks.
Did he go to Milwaukee as a favor to them for drafting his kid Bryce?
Bryce is his nephew, guy turns everyone to gold
Though I guess if hes a terrible brother he could be Bryce’s father
Congrats Justin! Well deserved!!
In Pittsburgh he was the guy that showered sunflower seeds over whoever Hannah Mears was interviewing. Hope he does well with this opportunity.
Cool, So grip doctor and seed tosser.
We need more info !
Would love to hear he’s fluent in multiple languages and plays a Stratocaster.
Head scratcher for sure. Next move…hire Ruben Rivera as base running coach?
Instead of questioning Meccage’s hiring as pitching coach need to give him a chance. Time to let him work with Giants staff, evaluate each pitcher & hopefully help some get the most out of their talent
Miz certainly stepped in & provided quality for Brewers
Giants haven’t even played their 1st games under Vitello. Have some faith that Posey, Minasian & Vitello know what they’re doing & trying to give fans a winner
The man of a thousand grips. He can imitate pretty much anyone’s grips and tell you why its effective for that pitcher. I think he is a good hire.
I was surprised when J.P. Martinez moved on to be ATL bullpen coach, I thought he might be held over but not it seems like Posey, Minasian & Vitello will bring in all their own guys. I’m fine with that and of the moves so far.
As for Meccage, when fans from those teams chime in positively, listen. I like that his experience has been both at AAA and in an MLB bullpen. Your dealing with not only highly touted prospects but a lot of AAAA players who with a change in approach, a pitch grip, velo pickup, etc level up to MLB.
MLB team is trying to win now and every year, getting contributions for your farm depth is super helpful. Having players realize their prospect ceiling or something closer to their ceiling vs their floor is huge. The Kapler years saw the staff do the above with existing MLB’ers but not so much with MiLB players in particular higher profile prospects. The ability to turn a 5th starter/swing guy into a #4 is immensely valuable