Tony Vitello will have a familiar face in his corner as he prepares to make his unprecedented leap to the majors.
Hunter Mense, who played under Vitello at the University of Missouri, is leaving his position as the Toronto Blue Jays’ assistant hitting coach to become the Giants’ new hitting coach, according to a report from The Athletic’s Mitch Bannon.
Mense, 41, has been on the Blue Jays’ coaching staff since 2022. Prior to that, Mense served as the hitting coach for the Blue Jays’ Double-A affiliate in ’18, then spent three seasons as the team’s minor league hitting coordinator.
Toronto boasted one of baseball’s best offenses and pushed en route to pushing the Los Angeles Dodgers to seven games in the World Series, finishing the regular season with the third-best OPS (.761) and fourth-most runs scored (798) in the majors. That production was partially the product of the Blue Jays boasting both the lowest strikeout rate (17.8%) and highest contact rate in the majors last season.
The addition of Mense falls in line with some of San Francisco’s recent personnel acquisitions. San Francisco’s first two selections in the 2025 MLB draft were infielder Gavin Kilen (who played under Vitello at Tennessee) and outfielder Trevor Cohen, who are both contact-oriented hitters.
Mense, will replace Pat Burrell, who spent two seasons as the Giants’ hitting coach. In those two seasons, San Francisco ranked 18th in runs scored and 20th in OPS in the majors.
Burrell will remain with the organization but won’t be on Vitello’s coaching staff. Additionally, assistant hitting coach Damon Minor has been let go by the organization. Along with Burrell and Minor, bench coach Ryan Christenson, third-base coach Matt Williams, pitching coach J.P. Martinez and bullpen coach Garvin Alston will not return next season.
President of baseball operations Buster Posey told reporters on Tuesday at the GM Meetings that assistant hitting coach Oscar Bernard, quality control coach Taira Uematsu and bullpen catcher Eliezer Zambrano will be back for next season. First-base coach Mark Hallberg and catching coach Alex Burg could be back as well, but both coaches are currently weighing their options.
“He’s one of those that we’d love to have back, but he has been kind of a popular guy with some other teams, as well,” Posey said of Hallberg to reporters in Las Vegas. “We’re working through that.”
Regarding additions, former San Diego Padres manager Jayce Tingler will be joining Vitello’s coaching staff as well. The Giants have yet to announce Tingler’s specific role, but it would make sense for Tingler to become Vitello’s bench coach given his major-league experience.