SF Giants lose key member of coaching staff to the Atlanta Braves

The SF Giants are trying to assemble a coaching staff around their new manager Tony Vitello, but one coach will not be a holdover from the previous regime. Pitching coach J.P. Martinez has been hired by the Atlanta Braves as their bullpen coach.

Martinez was hired as San Francisco's pitching coach ahead of the 2025 season after Bryan Price, who was the pitching coach for Bob Melvin's first season as manager, stepped down.

SF Giants lose pitching coach J.P. Martinez to the Braves

Martinez was an assistant pitching coach for the Giants from 2021 to 2024 and was a holdover from the Gabe Kapler years. He seemed to do a good job with the pitching staff in 2025 and the fact that he is bilingual and fluent in Spanish was invaluable on a pitching staff that had a number of Spanish speakers.

Whenever a new manager comes in, there are inevitably going to be some changes on the coaching staff. Martinez seemed like he would make sense as a holdover given the fact that he had been around for a while and has a lot of familiarity with the staff. He would have been an invaluable resource for Vitello as he will have to acclimate himself to a new roster and new pitching staff that he is not fully familiar with.

Now, the Giants will have to find a new pitching coach for next season. It will be interesting to see who the Giants go with for this role. Will Vitello get to choose someone that he is familiar with from his past, or will the front office have someone in mind? Maybe president of baseball operations Buster Posey will call upon a former Giants legend that he played with in the past for the role.

The Giants have already added Jayce Tingler to Vitello's coaching staff which makes a lot of sense given the fact that Tingler is a former MLB manager and is also friends with Vitello dating back to their playing days in college.

Maybe for pitching coach the Giants will similarly try to find someone with MLB experience who also has some kind of relationship or familiarity with Vitello so there is some built-in trust there.

It is unfortunate to lose Martinez given he would have been a good resource for Vitello, but maybe having a fresh set of eyes come in will be a good thing for the pitching staff next season.