San Francisco Giants: Top Three Hitting Coaches to Target

John Mallee

Sadly, one of the Giants’ better hitting coach targets, Chili Davis just got hired by the Cubs. However, that obviously leaves the Cubs former hitting coach as someone available. John Mallee is that man. The Cubs offense has been pretty good the past few years. They’re top 10 in wRC+ and have a really high walk-rate. The Cubs ability to get timely offense from a lot of players sure helped, but my question is whether or not he actually had much to do with them.

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Anthony Rizzo is obviously one of their top offensive threats, but Mallee frankly didn’t have a whole lot to do with him. Rizzo’s best year was 2014, not under the tutleage of Mallee. He even showed a little regression in 2017. That shows me some cause for concern.

However, his ability to help young players assimilate to the big leagues quick was something that the Giants really have to like. Baez has been a better offensive threat over the past few years, and the seamless transitions for guys like Ian Happ, Kris Bryant, and Wilson Contreras. Throw in guys like Addison Russell and Albert Almora, the Cubs were able to have young players make immediate impacts at the plate.

One thing about Mallee is he just didn’t randomly join the Cubs from nowhere after the 2014 season. Mallee was the hitting coach for the Houston Astros from 2012-2014, which includes the emergence of Jose Altuve. In Mallee’s final year Altuve’s average jumped up to .341 and his OPS up over .800 for the first time. Altuve became more of a power threat after Mallee left for the Cubs, but his track record is there.

Mallee wouldn’t have the level of prospects to work with that he had with the Chicago Cubs. But that’s fine. If they can get some good impact out of their prospects when they hit the big leagues, that would help. Mallee would be a decent hire for hitting coach.

Rick Schu

Another one of the offensive juggernauts in recent seasons was none other than the Washington Nationals. Schu became the organizational hitting instructor for the Nationals in 2009, and became their big league hitting coach in 2013. The National’s average has been relatively average for the league, just .255.

The Nationals did have a top ten on base percentage, and scored almost 300 more runs than the Giants during Schu’s time in charge. The Nationals also had a top ten slugging percentage, and were top ten in homers during his time in charge, despite being in a relatively neutral park in terms of hitter or pitcher friendly.

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One of the National’s main issues in the postseason though was run production, and that might an issue that slightly concerns the Giants. However, the Nationals have come across some incredibly formidable foes in recent post season series. Schu’s team was actually a whole lot like the Giants current roster. A lot of veterans with very little youth influx.

However, the National’s have had a few solid young hitters come up under Schu, and that can’t be dismissed. The emergence of Anthony Rendon can definitely be attributed to the help of Schu. Throw in Trea Turner‘s season, and Michael Taylor‘s this year, Schu has really helped the few young guys get going. Another one to look at was Wilson Ramos and his quick emergence as an offensive threat.

Schu would be another good hire, but there is also the idea that someone from inside the organization could step into that role.

Will Clark or Barry Bonds

Will Clark has been an organizational assistant for the last few years, appearing on the bench every now and then. Barry Bonds was in that same role a few times as well. Both of them are solid internal choices for the job, and it wouldn’t hurt to get a look at them in action.

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Barry Bonds didn’t have a great season in charge of the Marlins offense in 2016. He was promptly fired. So that doesn’t scream great.

Also, Stanton had a significantly worse season in 2016 than he did in 2015 or 2017. That would severely concern me. Bonds is great at helping make minor adjustments as an individual instructor. Take that from guys like Mike Morse, and even Stanton this year.

But that usually comes as a hitting assistant. Bonds is too much of a big figure to be in an assistant role. It doesn’t really suit him. So we turn to the other internal option, Will Clark.

Clark currently holds the role of Special assistant in the front office. He’s been pretty hands on with the Giants hitters over the last few years, and it has helped a few of the younger players. Clark would be an interesting hitting instructor, but he’d have to be able to commit to the daily grind through the season, and I’m not sure if that’s something he’s ready to commit to yet.

Next: Giants are early favorites for Stanton

Any three/four of these guys are good options. But some are better options than others. What do you think? Who is the best option? Tell us in the comments below!