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Former Tennessee pitching coach Frank Anderson was reclassified to assistant pitching coach on Tony Vitello’s San Francisco Giants’ staff after one season as its director of major league pitching.
The move was reported by The Athletic on Oct. 26. It comes as part of a reworking of the Giants' pitching framework by president of baseball operations Buster Posey following a disappointing 2026 season.
Anderson was the top assistant coach to leave UT with Vitello after Vitello was hired as the Giants’ manager in October 2025. In eight seasons as pitching coach, he developed 25 MLB draft picks, including four first-rounders. A program-record six pitchers were picked in the 2023 MLB Draft, and then the next year the Vols won the national championship.
But that success didn’t carry over in Vitello and Anderson’s first season in MLB. San Francisco went 65-97, the second-worst record in the National League and fourth worst in MLB.
"It has been a learning experience," Anderson told Knox News in June. "It's different when you're dealing with some other people and different personalities and all kinds of different things."
The Giants' pitching staff finished 23rd in ERA (4.33), 24th in WHIP (1.36) and 27th in strikeout rate (19.5%). The bullpen blew 27 saves.
But Posey opted not to completely overhaul the operation and instead reorganize it under pitching coach Justin Meccage.
“There’s belief with Frank and (bullpen coach Jesse Chavez), having a year under their belts, that they’re gonna come back and be in a better position to lead our pitchers,” Posey told The Athletic. “Ultimately, that’s why we decided to stick with them. We’ve had a lot of conversations and we all know — not just them — that changes will come if we don’t get this on a better track.”