Former Toronto Blue Jays hitting coach set to lead Giants offence

Hunter Mense, who had served as an assistant coach for the last four seasons, including 2025 under David Popkins, is leaving the organization to become the new hitting coach for the San Francisco Giants under new manager Tony Vitello.

Mense's departure was first known back in November and became more widely known on Friday as the Giants publicly released their full slate of coaches for the upcoming season.

Like Mense and Vitello, much of the Giants staff is new, though it does include four holdovers from Bob Melvin's tenure: Oscar Bernard, who will serve under Mense as assistant hitting coach, field coordinator and catching coach Alex Burg, quality control coach Taira Uematsu, and bullpen catcher Eliezer Zambrano.

In addition, Ron Washington - former manager of the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels and longtime coach for the Athletics and Atlanta Braves - will serve as infield coach, while Jayce Tingler, former manager of the San Diego Padres will be the new bench coach.

In addition to Mense, their is another Blue Jays connection as well. Long-time major league pitcher and two-time member of Canada's team Jesse Chavez, who only recently announced his retirement in July, is joining the staff as the new bullpen coach.

Mense, who was a key member of the coaching staff that helped turn the Blue Jays stagnant offence from 2024 around, had been with the organization for nine seasons.

Prior to his stint with the major league club, he served as hitting coach for Double-A New Hampshire, and helped lead the Fisher Cats to the league championship in 2018. He then spent three seasons as the minor league coordinator.

Best of luck to Hunter in his new endeavour.

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