Latest hire reunites SF Giants manager Bob Melvin with assistant hitter coach

SF Giants manager Bob Melvin will be adding a familiar face to his coaching staff. Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic reports that former San Diego Padres assistant hitting coach Oscar Bernard will be assuming the same role with the Giants.

Latest hire reunites SF Giants manager Bob Melvin with assistant hitter coach

The Giants have had some notable departures from their coaching staff this offseason. Bryan Price stepped down as pitching coach and the Giants elevated J.P. Martinez in his place. Martinez had served as an assistant pitching coach for San Francisco since 2020.

The Giants also lost a pair of hitting coaches in Justin Viele and Pedro Guerrero. Both coaches would have been invited back if they had not landed elsewhere. Viele reunited with Donnie Ecker as a hitting coach with the Texas Rangers. Guerrero joined the Miami Marlins in a lateral move. The Marlins had interest in Guerrero even before hiring Clayton McCullough as their manager. This was due in part to Gabe Kapler being part of Miami's front office now.

Lastly, Alyssa Nakken had been with the Giants for nearly a decade before accepting a role as an assistant director of player development with the Cleveland Guardians. She previously worked in baseball operations with San Francisco before she was elevated to the coaching staff when Kapler took over after the 2019 season.

That is a lot of coaches to lose in one offseason but the Giants are adding at least one new name to the mix. Oscar Bernard had a brief pro career with the Chicago Cubs in the early 2000's. Since then, he has worked as a hitting coach in several organizations including the Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, and Padres.

Much of his work has been in the lower minors, including the Dominican Summer League with the Rangers and Cubs. He is fluent in Spanish and Andrew Baggarly noted that was an important trait for this role.

Bernard's most extensive work has been as a minor league hitting coordinator in the Padres organization. He joined Bob Melvin's staff for one season in 2023. When Melvin was hired away by the Giants, Bernard was reassigned to a minor league hitting coordinator. He now joins Melvin's coaching staff for the second time.