San Francisco Giants Promoting Internal Candidate to Pitching Coach: Report

The San Francisco Giants have reportedly decided who their next pitching coach is going to be.

Jul 5, 2022; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; San Francisco Giants assistant coach J.P. Martinez against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Some changes have begun to take place under the leadership of Buster Posey for the San Francisco Giants, with pitching coach Bryan Price stepping down from his role after one year in that position.

While that's not a direct result from Posey taking over as president of baseball operations, it did thrust him into a decision making process with manager Bob Melvin about how they are going to replace the veteran Major League coach.

According to Susan Slasser of The San Francisco Chronicle, that decision has been made.

She reports the Giants are going to promote from within, elevating current assistant pitching coach J.P. Martinez into the new role.

That isn't overly surprising.

Martinez was a name floated as someone who likely would be in the mix to take over as pitching coach, and after spending the past four seasons on the staff under two different skippers, it's clear he has been valued enough to be a holdover despite the changes.

Now, the former minor league player will be elevated into a role he's never held before.

Selected in the ninth round of the 2004 draft by the Minnesota Twins, the highest he ever reached was Triple-A before he called it a career in 2008.

Following his playing days, he got into coaching at the high school ranks before joining the organization that drafted him in 2014 as a pitching coach and rehab coordinator.

Nothing has been announced by the team yet, but based on Slasser's reporting, Martinez will be the next pitching coach for San Francisco with many young players coming up the ranks who are expected to be key contributors for the franchise during their careers.