Giants to promote J.P. Martinez to pitching coach

The Giants are promoting J.P. Martinez to the role of pitching coach, as reported by Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. The news comes on the heels of the club’s previous pitching coach, Bryan Price, stepping down from his role with the club earlier on Tuesday.

Martinez joined the Giants during the 2020-21 offseason as assistant pitching coach, replacing Erik Katz on the staff of then-manager Gabe Kapler. Prior to joining San Francisco, Martinez got his start in professional baseball when he was drafted in the ninth round of the 2004 draft by the Twins. Though he never cracked the major leagues, he spent four seasons pitching in the Twins organization and a fifth with the Orioles organization before retiring from his playing career in 2008. Martinez eventually returned to the Twins organization in 2015 as a pitching coach at the club’s Florida complex and spent six seasons with the club in various coaching roles through the minor leagues before departing for San Francisco.

Upon joining the Giants, Martinez worked under former pitching coach Andrew Bailey and former director of pitching Brian Bannister. Of that trio, only Martinez remained with the organization in 2024 following Kapler’s firing and the hiring of Bob Melvin as manager. Melvin brought in Price to act as the club’s primary pitching coach, but with Price now set to step down, the Giants appear poised to promote Martinez in his place. The move offers some continuity to Giants hurlers after a season in which the club’s pitching staff posted strong underlying metrics despite middling performance. While the club’s collective 4.10 ERA wasn’t especially impressive, Giants pitchers posted a 3.80 FIP and a 3.82 SIERA, both of which were top-seven figures in the majors this year.

Looking at individual performances, the Giants enjoyed solid performances from young pitchers such as Hayden Birdsong, Tristan Beck, Kyle Harrison and Landen Roupp this year. Each of those pitchers figures to be asked to shoulder more significant workloads in 2025 thanks to the impending departure of Blake Snell. The loss of Snell, who dominated with a 1.23 ERA and 1.77 FIP in his final 14 starts with San Francisco, will leave the Giants more reliant on veterans Robbie Ray and Jordan Hicks headed into 2025 despite questions regarding the durability of those hurlers in rotation roles.

Of course, it’s certainly possible that the Giants pursue pitching help to further bolster Martinez’s staff this winter, whether that comes in the form of a reunion with Snell or the acquisition of a lower-profile arm or two to help supplement the staff in his absence like Luis Severino or Andrew Heaney. For now, however, the club’s top priority appears to be completing their GM search and locking down a No. 2 in the front office to serve as a partner for newly minted president of baseball operations Buster Posey.