Three Reasons Hunter Pence could be next SF Giants manager

While things are looking up, there’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding the SF Giants going forward. If things stall out, Hunter Pence would be a logical pick to be the team’s next manager.

The 2020 season was the first time the SF GIants did not have Bruce Bochy as manager since 2006. New manager Gabe Kapler finished the season strong, there were a number of concerning trends that could be problems going forward. If the team does move on from Kapler in the future, it could open the door for Hunter Pence to be the team’s manager.

While the Giants missed out on the playoffs by only a single game in 2020, many fans have placed the blame at the foot of manager Gabe Kapler. We all have our own moment where a Kapler decision to go to the bullpen backfired and left us with no trust in his decisionmaking.

There were many such decisions, but to be fair he did have some solid managerial moments. For instance, in an extra-inning game the Giants won against the Astros in August, Kapler seemingly made all of the right moves. Incidentally, the hero of that game was Pence, who hit a three run home run to get the Giants back in the game.

As we all know, that was more the exception than the norm for Pence in 2020 which led to him being cut by the team and to his retirement at the end of the season.

If the Giants fail to make the playoffs in the next two seasons and Kapler fails to win over a fanbase that views him with a wary eye, Pence could very well be the next manager of the Giants and here are three reasons why.