The SF Giants have made a quiet but telling shift in their pitching department, changing Frank Anderson’s title from Director of Major League Pitching to assistant pitching coach.
President of baseball operations Buster Posey explained the move to Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic, saying it was designed to clear up the chain of command and establish Justin Meccage as the top voice on the pitching side.
Anderson had been hired out of the University of Tennessee in February 2026, and his background there matters. He spent most of his time in Knoxville alongside Giants manager Tony Vitello, which makes it obvious why San Francisco brought him in: he was someone Vitello trusted.
But trust only goes so far when the pitching staff has had the kind of season the Giants just endured.
The 2026 bullpen and the rotation behind it were a mess by almost every measure. Robbie Ray, who the team traded in August, still finished as the staff leader with 10 wins, which says plenty about how the year went.
San Francisco finished near the bottom of the league in most of the key pitching categories that matter. The Giants ranked 24th in WHIP, 27th in K/9 at 7.59, 22nd in strikeouts to walks at 2.02, and 24th in earned runs allowed with 160.
If you want the clearest snapshot of how far off the rails things went, look no further than how the bullpen stacked up. Its numbers were closer to the Colorado Rockies than the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks. Yes, those Rockies - the ones playing at 5,280-foot elevation.
That’s why the Giants’ decision to adjust Anderson’s role reads as more than just a title change. It’s an effort to find some order in a pitching operation that badly needs it.
The organization does seem to be putting its faith in Meccage, who previously coached with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Nashville Sounds, Milwaukee’s Triple-A affiliate. Instead of reaching outside the organization for a new voice, the Giants appear committed to letting him steer the ship.
That also makes the decision not to bring back JP Martinez after the 2025 season look even more curious in hindsight. San Francisco had been solid for much of that year before injuries took their toll, and then the pitching and hitting seemed to flip in the offseason.
The Anderson move may also hint at something broader: the Giants may be trimming back Tony Vitello’s influence on the pitching staff, at least a little. That doesn’t mean the two former Tennessee figures won’t work closely together, but the college game is built differently, and the MLB asks for a more balanced blend of pitching and hitting knowledge.
In that sense, this could be part of a larger issue around experience. Posey and Vitello are both still early in their new jobs, and the Giants are clearly still figuring out how to turn the pieces into something sustainable.
They’ve both worked in highly successful organizations and know what winning looks like. The missing part is the path to get there.
There is some reason for optimism on the horizon. The Giants just won farm system of the year at the minor league baseball awards, and names like Bo Davidson, Jhonny Level, and Josuar Gonzalez are moving toward the big leagues.
Still, the immediate problem remains the pitching staff, and the Anderson move is the latest sign that the Giants know it.
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