SCOTTSDALE, Arizona — There is a spectrum along which hitting coaches reside. On one end, there are the coaches who rely more on feel. On the other end, there are those who lean more into the numbers.
So, where does new Giants hitting coach Hunter Mense fall? He’d rather not place himself in a box.
“In today’s game, there’s a ton of different ways that you can get things across to players and a ton of different ways to help players get better from an individual standpoint, from a holistic team standpoint,” Mense said. “If you’re just limiting yourself to one of those things, you’re in a tough spot.
“If I’m boxing myself in any sort of way, I’m a hitting coach that loves to score runs. Whatever the ways that we get across and score the most runs is going to be the best way for that day.”
Mense joins an organization that has lacked in the run-scoring department over the last four seasons. Since 2022, the Giants rank 20th in runs scored and 22nd in OPS. By weighted runs created-plus (wRC+), which accounts for ballpark and offensive environment, San Francisco still ranks 19th in the majors over that span.
The 41-year-old Mense’s last employer had no problems running up a score. Mense joins San Francisco after spending the last four seasons as an assistant hitting coach with the Toronto Blue Jays, who pushed the Los Angeles Dodgers to seven games in the 2025 World Series.
Headlined by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Toronto boasted one of the best offenses in baseball in 2025. Finishing third in OPS and fourth in runs scored is impressive enough, but the Blue Jays also had the highest contact rate and lowest strikeout rates in the league.
“What it’s felt like has played in the playoffs the last few years has been teams that are contact-oriented, but it’s not just contact-oriented. It’s a bunch of guys that can do a lot of different things,” Mense said.
Luis Arraez and Jung Hoo Lee, known for their ability to make contact and avoid strikeouts, would’ve fit right into the Blue Jays’ lineup. In 2025, Arraez, a three-time batting champion, had the highest contact rate and lowest strikeout rate in the majors. Lee, who left Giants camp on Thursday to join South Korea for the World Baseball Classic, had the ninth-lowest strikeout rate and 10th-highest contact rate.
Contrast Arraez and Lee with Rafael Devers, Willy Adames and Matt Chapman, whose offensive profiles are defined by patience and power. Last season, Devers (35 homers), Adames (30) and Chapman (21) not only combined to hit 86 homers, but all three career-highs in walk rate. Devers drew 112 walks last season, smashing his previous single-season best of 67 walks.
“It’s adding tools to their tool belts, too,” Mense said. “Jung Hoo and Arraez, when you have those bat-to-ball skills, there’s a lot of stuff you can tap into that, a lot of times, I think they don’t allow themselves — or any guy that allows themselves — to do.
“… The other guys are the same way, too. They’ve got big-time power, but can we add some bat-to-ball? Can we add some (ability to) hit behind a runner when we need to, whatever the game calls for? If any guy can add anything to their tool belt, it’s a plus.”
Mense has had to learn some names since joining the organization, but he needed no introduction with the Giants’ rookie manager.
Like bench coach Jayce Tingler, Mense has known Tony Vitello for more than two decades. Vitello was in his second year as a coach at Missouri when Mense began his collegiate career. Following three seasons as a Tiger under Vitello, Mense was drafted in the 17th round of the 2006 MLB draft by the Florida Marlins.
“I’ve always continued to follow him and kept up with him as our paths went different ways,” Mense said. “Seeing the success that he always had, I think the intensity was something that kind of always played through — and the competitiveness. Those two things have always been at the forefront of who he is, and he’s still the same today.”
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In 2005, Pence played in the South Atlantic League as a prospect in the Houston Astros’ minor-league system. Mense recalled playing a game in the South Atlantic League when a fan in West Virginia yelled at him, “Quit trying to be like Hunter Pence. You’re not him!” Two years earlier, Pence played in that league.
Years later, Mense was in spring training with the Marlins when he ran into Pence, who had made a name for himself in the majors.
“I said, ‘My name is Hunter Mense,’ and he goes, ‘No!’” Mense recalled. “It was like the craziest expression of, ‘You’re lying to me.’ I was like, ‘No, I’m serious, it actually is.’”
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