At his introductory press conference, Buster Posey, the Giants' recent president of baseball operations, said he desired to hire a general manager with a scouting background. After a month-long search, Posey got here across a candidate with whom he and the organization were already familiar.
The Giants officially announced Friday afternoon that Zack Minasian will turn into the team's eleventh general manager since moving to San Francisco, moving from his previous role because the team's vice chairman of professional scouting.
“We are excited to have Zack take on this new role,” Posey said in a press release. “Zack has brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to the organization in his six years here. He is also a thorough talent evaluator, but more than that, he is a great person that our community will be proud of. We believe he will immediately improve us as a team and organization in this new role and I look forward to working with him.”
Minasian, 41, will replace Pete Putila, who will tackle a distinct role within the organization. Prior to the move, Putila served because the team's general manager for the past two seasons under former president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, who was fired in late September.
Minasian won't have much time to benefit from the recent role before attending to work. Free agents are eligible to sign with recent teams five days after the World Series, which ended Wednesday night when the Dodgers beat the Yankees in five games. Additionally, the GM meetings are next week (November 5-7) and the Winter meetings (December 9-12) are coming up.
“I am extremely grateful to Buster and the Giants organization for this incredible opportunity to lead our baseball department in this new role,” Minasian said in a press release. “There is so much to appreciate about this organization – an existing core of talent on both the major league roster and throughout the minor league system, a passionate fan base, an incredible alumni group and the organization's commitment to the community. “I look forward to working with Buster, Bob Melvin and the coaching staff, as well as our entire baseball department, to begin the work of bringing a World Series championship back to San Francisco.”
Minasian is a real baseball fan. Starting on the age of 5, Minasian worked as a bat boy and clubhouse attendant together with his father, Zack Sr., a longtime clubhouse manager for the Texas Rangers from 1988 to 2009.
One of Minasian's brothers, Perry, is currently the final manager of the Los Angeles Angels. Zack and Perry are the primary siblings in Major League history to concurrently function general managers. Along with Perry, Zack's brother Calvin is the Atlanta Braves' clubhouse manager. He can be the godson of the late Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda and his wife Jo.
Minasian joined the Giants in 2019 after spending 14 seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers. Most recently, he served because the team's special advisor for baseball operations. He also served because the team's director of skilled scouting, manager of minor league scouting, personnel/coordinator of professional scouting and baseball operations assistant. When Minasian joined the organization, he emphasized the importance of in-person scouting slightly than simply counting on data.
“With so much data available to front offices, there are some front offices that just feel more comfortable relying on the data and a scout rather than just relying on the scout, whatever that is Right is,” Minasian told this news organization. “I kind of look at it as a buffet. I want to be able to choose the information that I think is most important.”
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