Former SF Giants prospects named to Mets MiLB coaching staff

At present, no transactions are allowed by Major League Baseball teams involving players currently or recently on 40-man rosters, thanks to the MLB lockout put in place by owners on December 2. Everything else continues as usual, however, including teams putting together their coaching staffs for Minor League affiliates in 2022 - and a pair of former highly-regarded SF Giants prospects will continue to join forces trying to help young players reach their potential.

On January 6, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies - Double-A affiliate of the New York Mets - announced that their coaching staff for 2022 would include both pitching coach Jerome Williams and hitting coach Tommy Joseph, among others.

Williams and Joseph were both high draft picks of the SF Giants and among the franchise's top prospects early in their careers.

A 1999 supplemental first-round pick, #39 overall, out of high school in Hawaii, Williams impressed from the get-go. He was in Double-A in 2001, his second full MiLB season, and Triple-A the year after that. Baseball America named Williams the Giants' top prospect before both 2001 and 2002, and after experiencing more success early in the 2003 season while repeating the Triple-A level with the Fresno Grizzlies, he was called up to the Majors.

Williams finished 2003 with the Giants, contributing to the team's 100-win season and National League West title with a 7-5 record and 3.30 ERA in 21 starts. He started 22 games in 2004, putting up a 4.24 ERA, but struggled with both Fresno and San Francisco in 2005 and was packaged to the Chicago Cubs in a May trade for reliever LaTroy Hawkins.

The right-hander became the epitome of a journeyman pitcher, bouncing around to multiple organizations and even playing low-level independent baseball in the Golden Baseball League in 2008 and pitching for a team in Taiwan in 2010.

Williams hung up his spikes after pitching in the Mexican League in 2018. He spent 20 seasons pitching in professional baseball, 11 of those at least partially in the big leagues for eight different teams. He finished with a 52-66 record and 4.59 ERA in 1029 2/3 innings.

Joseph was drafted as a catcher in the second round in 2009 (four picks ahead of Nolan Arenado) out of high school in Phoenix. He showed immediate power, launching 16 home runs with Low-A Augusta in 2010 in his first pro season, then added more batting average and increased his round tripper output with the 2011 San Jose Giants (.270 average, 22 HR).

The 2011 output vaulted Joseph from the #10 prospect in the defending World Champions' system before the season to #2 ahead of 2012, according to Baseball America, and a solid returns in a difficult hitters' park at Double-A Richmond (.260 average, eight homers in 80 games) enticed the Philadelphia Phillies to accept him as part of a deal at the trading deadline. The player the Giants received became instrumental in their subsequent World Series title, and the 2014 championship: Hunter Pence.

Joseph ended up reaching Philadelphia in 2016-17, hitting 43 homers in 249 career Major League games. He retired after the 2020 season.

Both Joseph and Williams held the same roles under manager Reid Brignac, who will manage Binghamton in 2022, at Low-A St. Lucie in 2021.