SF Giants Hire J.P. Martinez As Assistant Pitching Coach

According to a tweet by Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group, the SF Giants have hired J.P. Martinez as the team’s assistant pitching coach. Martinez will replace Ethan Katz, who left the Giants to become the Chicago White Sox pitching coach. Jon Morosi of MLB Network first reported the Giants were eyeing Martinez for the position last Wednesday.

Martinez has served as the Minnesota Twins assistant pitching coordinator since 2018 and oversaw the Twins pitching operations at the organization’s Alternate Site during the 2020 season. He has also worked as a pitching coach with the Twins Low-A affiliate, the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Now he will work alongside Giants pitching coach Andrew Bailey with the big-league club.

Drafted by the Twins in the 9th round of the 2004 MLB draft out of the University of New Orleans, Martinez pitched in Minnesota’s organization through 2007, before playing his final minor-league season with the Baltimore Orioles High-A affiliate in 2008. Martinez reached Triple-A for a 2 game stint but otherwise spent most of his career in the lower minor leagues.

With the vast majority of his playing and coaching experience coming in the minor-leagues, the 38-year old Martinez follows Giants manager Gabe Kapler’s trend of targeting younger coaches focusing on player development for his coaching staff.

On another interesting note, Martinez likely has experience with Giants pitching prospects Prelander Berroa and Kai-Wei Teng, who were acquired from the Twins at the 2019 trade deadline.

The SF Giants were clearly disappointed to lose assistant pitching coach Ethan Katz to the Chicago White Sox. However, the organization appears poised to hire another young coach with a strong track record in player development in longtime Minnesota Twins coach J.P. Martinez.