Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
It took Gabe Kapler, Farhan Zaidi & Co. months to complete the manager’s first-year coaching staff, searching under all the proverbial rocks for the proverbial gems.
About five hours after the Giants officially lost one piece of the year-two staff, they formally replaced him.
On Tuesday, the same day that assistant pitching coach Ethan Katz was promoted and became the White Sox pitching coach, San Francisco announced it had hired J.P. Martinez from the Twins to take Katz’s old role and title.
Martinez just completed his sixth season in Minnesota and third as assistant minor league pitching coordinator, leading the Twins’ alternate site last season. That he comes from a background of pitching development should not surprise for a team that prizes teaching skills at each level, always feeling a player can improve.
Martinez, a Louisiana native, played five seasons in the minors, with Minnesota and Baltimore, from 2004-08 before retiring, going to LSU grad school and eventually entering the coaching ranks, first at the high school level. He and LSU product Kevin Gausman should mesh early.
He began in the Twins’ system in 2015 as rehab pitching coach for their Gulf Coast team and rose from there.
At 38, Martinez will actually be on the older side on Kapler’s young staff, which fared well in a 60-game season that did not end in the playoffs — but the club also probably overachieved in playing 60 meaningful games.
Zaidi has said he expects the remaining 12 coaches on the staff to return next season, provided no one else is poached for a promotion.