Craig Brown writes about the Hunter Mense hire.
He spoke to David Laurilla at FanGraphs
back in 2022 about how he focused on improving decisions at the plate and what that did to a plate appearance.
“You’ve always heard about the professionalism of the at-bats, and that’s what you see here (in Toronto). Guys aren’t anxious to swing at every single pitch, because they know that 1) the stuff up here is really good, and 2) they have confidence to hit in every sort of count, in any situation, so they’re
willing to take a pitch if it’s not one that they want to drive. They’re willing to wait, wait, wait, wait until they get the pitch they want. What that filters down to is the swing-decision aspect of hitting.
“Decision-making is so key at this level, in part because, again, the stuff is so good. They can expose you so fast, especially if you’re not a good decision-maker. They will find holes really, really fast, and are going to keep exploiting them. If you keep making bad decisions, they’re going to keep going there and expose you.”
I’m going to pause right there and say this feels like a fantastic hire for the organization. How many times did it seem like we were watching a hitter over the last couple of years who was just up there hacking? This isn’t about what the broadcast loves to harp on in things like “a 75 percent swing” or giving kudos for going the opposite way to move a runner. It’s about having a plan to find that pitch you can do damage on. That may be about going the opposite way, which is fine. But again…it’s about having a plan and finding the right pitch.
Giants fans discuss losing Hunter Mense.
But if we’re just looking at results, the lineup did turn things around after a bad start. Rafael Devers is a Silver Slugger Award finalist. Bryce Eldridge never looked overmatched. Drew Gilbert found a groove.
There were some nice things about the situation, but maybe not good enough to keep him around? It seems hard to believe that this is a personality conflict with the manager. As noted when he was hired:
Mense — pronounced “MENTZ,” like how Hunter Pence pronounces his surname — is good friends with Tony Vitello, so those who’ve been on the Vitello MLB Connections beat are being rewarded right now. Pavlovic mentions, “Both are Missouri natives and Mense played at Missouri while Vitello was an assistant coach.” This is the same setup for those Max Scherzer to the Giants rumors, by the way, and Scherzer is currently the only active major leaguer from Vitello’s time in Missouri.
The Royals signed pitcher Hobie Harris to a minor league deal.
Harris has spent the last two seasons in the Boston system. He didn’t get a major league opportunity with the Red Sox, instead pitching mostly with Triple-A Worcester. Harris posted a 4.15 ERA in 31 outings with the WooSox in 2025. Harris missed the first half of the ’26 season to injury, returning to throw 24 2/3 frames of 2.55 ERA ball down the stretch. He struck out more than a quarter of opponents but walked over 15% of batters faced, which wasn’t enough to get a look in a strong Boston bullpen.
The 33-year-old Harris has 16 games of major league experience, all of which came with the 2023 Nationals. He surrendered 12 runs (11 earned) with more walks than strikeouts across 19 1/3 innings. Harris has a 95 mph fastball but leans more heavily on his splitter and cutter. The University of Pittsburgh product carries a 4.26 ERA across parts of six Triple-A campaigns.
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