SF Giants bring back familiar faces with organizational announcement

Major league baseball will return at some point, but until then, minor league baseball will take center stage when the season begins next month. The SF Giants did some offseason landscaping by announcing organizational coaches at each affiliate.

SF Giants bring back familiar faces with organizational announcement

A lot of familiar faces are returning as Kerry Crowley of the bay Area News Groups reports:

Dave Brundage, Dennis Pelfrey, Carlos Valderrama, and Lipso Nava all have prior ties with the organization. Three of the four are moving into a new role, whereas Brundage is returning for his fifth season as the head skipper of the Sacramento River Cats. In that time, he has posted a 248-300 record (.453 winning percentage), but a minor league manager's performance is often evaluated based on how he helps with player development.

Pelfey has been named the manager of the Richmond Fly Squirrels after he spent last season in Single-A. The 44-year-old coach led the Eugene Emeralds to a 69-50 record in 2021 and he will likely manage several familiar faces in Double-A next year.

Valderrama coached the Augusta Greenjackets in 2017 and 2019 but he will move up a level next season as he replaces Pelfrey in Eugene. In his last stint with the Greenjackets, Augusta excelled to a 77-61 record under his watch.

Interestingly, he is the only one of the four managers to have put on a Giants uniform. The former outfielder signed with the Giants as an 18-year-old prospect and 1995 and spent seven seasons in the minors before receiving his first and only callup in 2003. He recorded one hit in seven at-bats.

He played for two more seasons with the Giants organization before hanging up his cleats. But, he has been involved in the organization in some capacity ever since then.

Lastly, Nava will take over as the manager of the San Jose Giants. Oddly enough, this is not Nava's first time coaching the Giants. He was San Jose's manager in 2018 when the Giants posted a 59-81 record. However, that was when San Jose was the Giants' High-A affiliate, but since then, it has been moved down to Low-A.

There is a lot of familiarity with these coaches. And, given that the Giants boast a solid farm system, these four coaches will play a pretty large role in player development next season.