As SF Giants hire new coaches, former pitching coach may join Italy for WBC

The SF Giants have hired a new pitching coach in Justin Meccage. Plus, arguably the best pitching coach in the team's history, Dave Righetti, reportedly will be Italy's pitching coach in the World Baseball Classic.

Not only did the Giants reportedly add Meccage as their pitching coach, they have also reportedly added Frank Anderson who was Tony Vitello's pitching coach at the University of Tennessee. It is not clear what role he would serve with the Giants, though.

Starting with the news of the future, Meccage has experience as a bullpen coach and assistant pitching coach with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was most recently serving as a coach in the Milwaukee Brewers' minor league system.

SF Giants have new and old pitching coach news

It is not altogether clear what connection, if any, he has with new Giants manager Tony Vitello. Some of the team's other reported hires like Jayce Tingler, Quentin Eberhardt, and Frank Anderson have experience with Vitello in the past, but we do not know if Vitello and Meccage have ever crossed paths in their careers.

No matter what, it will be interesting to get an infusion of new blood into the organization with Meccage and Anderson. Maybe they can bring a fresh perspective to a pitching staff that may look quite different in 2026 than what it looked like in 2025.

The Giants had to replace pitching coach J.P. Martinez after he departed to be the bullpen coach of the Atlanta Braves. Martinez seemed like a potential candidate to return given he was with the Giants under both Gabe Kapler and Bob Melvin and potentially could have helped ease Vitello's transition as he adjusts to dealing with a big league staff.

There were some rumors that the Giants could replace Martinez with a nostalgic name from the past in Giants legend Ryan Vogelsong, but that did not come to fruition.

Speaking of nostalgic names from the past, Dave Righetti is in the news. He is reportedly going to be the pitching coach for Italy in the World Baseball Classic under manager Francisco Cervelli. Righetti has served as a coach for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic in the past so he is not a stranger to the WBC.

It is remarkable to remember that Righetti, or "Rags" as he was better known, served as the pitching coach for the Giants from 2000 to 2017. That is the first 17 years of my life. When he departed as pitching coach in 2017 it felt so strange.

Since then, the Giants have had four different pitching coaches so that level of continuity is just truly remarkable and it is nice to see Righetti staying involved in the game after being such a key part of the Giants' coaching staff for so long.

It is nice to have some pitching coach news from the past and some news that will have implications for the future as Vitello's coaching staff is taking shape.