Giants hire Ron Wotus as special assistant

The San Francisco Giants announced on Wednesday evening they’ve hired Ron Wotus as a special assistant to baseball operations. According to the team, he’ll “serve as a mentor to the coaching staff and players at both the major and minor league levels and provide on-field instruction.” Wotus will attend spring training and make appearances with each of the team’s minor league affiliates.

It’s a first-time role for Wotus, but it marks the continuation of a longstanding relationship with the organization. He first joined the Giants as a player in the late 1980s, then transitioned into managing in their farm system. By 1998, Wotus was promoted to the big league coaching staff. He started off as the club’s third base coach, then spent nearly two decades as bench coach.

Prior to the 2018 campaign, Wotus transitioned back to third base coaching. The 60-year-old spent another four years in that capacity before announcing his retirement from coaching last August, effective at the end of the 2021 season. While that looked to be bringing an end to his 34-year tenure with San Francisco, he’ll now return for a 35th season.

Presumably, the special assistant role will afford Wotus more flexibility in his schedule than would’ve been possible had he remained on Gabe Kapler’s coaching staff. After the season, the Giants promoted assistant coach Mark Hallberg to replace Wotus as third base coach in 2022.