San Jose Giants Announce 2016 Coaching Staff
San Jose, CA- The San Jose Giants have announced the 2016 coaching staff, with Lipso Nava taking over as the club's manager. Nava previously served as San Jose's hitting coach from 2013-15. Mike Couchee returns as the Giants' pitching coach while Todd Linden joins the staff as hitting coach. Athletic trainer Garrett Havig also returns and Andy King has been named strength and conditioning coach.
Nava, 47, enters his ninth year with the San Francisco Giants organization and third season as a manager. In addition to serving as San Jose's hitting coach the last three years, Nava was the club's acting manager during the final month of the 2015 season leading the Giants to the North Division championship.
Previously, Nava spent two seasons as manager of the Augusta GreenJackets (Giants Class-A affiliate) from 2011-12. Under Nava's direction, Augusta's 2011 team won the second half South Division title and reached the playoffs. Prior to his two seasons as Augusta's manager, Nava served three years as the GreenJackets' hitting coach.
"I'm very excited to be back in San Jose as the team's manager next season," said Lipso Nava, San Jose Giants manager. "We as coaches always look forward to continuing the development process of the players in our system. I feel we have a very knowledgeable staff of qualified coaches that will have all aspects of the game covered."
Nava played 16 seasons of professional baseball from 1990-2006, including stints in the Mariners (1990-94), Red Sox (1995) and Cubs (1997) organizations. The former infielder advanced as high as Triple-A. Nava also played professionally in the Mexican League and independent Texas-Louisiana and Atlantic Leagues before retiring at the end of the 2006 season. Nava was originally a 14th round selection of the Mariners in the 1990 draft out of Miami-Dade College.
Couchee enters his fourth season as pitching coach for the San Jose Giants. 2016 marks Couchee's fifth season in the Giants organization, which began with a one-year stint as pitching coach with the Arizona Rookie League Giants. Under Couchee's guidance, the San Jose Giants have led the California League in ERA twice over the last three seasons. The 2015 Giants pitching staff set a team record and led all of Minor League Baseball with 1,345 strikeouts.
Couchee previously spent nine years in the San Diego Padres organization, including eight seasons as their Minor League Pitching Coordinator from 2004-11 and one year as pitching coach for Triple-A Portland in 2003. He also spent 10 seasons as the California/Anaheim Angels Minor League Pitching Coordinator from 1993-2002 after a five-year stint as a pitching coach in their organization. Couchee began his coaching career with Double-A Tulsa in the Texas farm system in 1986.
Couchee was drafted by San Diego in 1980 and pitched in the major leagues with the Padres in 1983 (eight games, 0-1 record, 5.14 ERA). Couchee was born in San Jose and attended nearby Los Gatos High School. He pitched collegiately at San Jose City College, USC and San Diego State University.
Linden begins his first season as hitting coach for the San Jose Giants after a two-year stint in the same role with the Augusta GreenJackets. Linden spent parts of five seasons in the major leagues with the San Francisco Giants (2003-07) and Florida Marlins (2007). The former outfielder owned a career big league batting average of .231 with eight home runs over 270 games.
Linden was originally a first round selection of the Giants in the 2001 draft out of LSU. Linden hit 121 home runs over 10 minor league seasons (2002-09, 2012-13). He also played professionally in Japan and in the independent North American League.
Havig returns for his third season as San Jose's athletic trainer and his seventh year in the Giants organization. Prior to coming to San Jose, Havig served two seasons (2012-13) as athletic trainer for the Augusta GreenJackets after spending one year each in the same role with the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (2011) and Arizona Rookie League Giants (2010).
King begins his first season with the San Jose Giants as strength and conditioning coach. 2016 marks his third year in the San Francisco organization. King spent the last two seasons as strength and conditioning coach for the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes.
Nathan Alleyne also returns for his sixth season as the San Jose Giants clubhouse manager and Tony Medina his second year as video coordinator.
Tickets are available for purchase online at sjgiants.com, over the phone at (408) 297-1435 and in-person at the Municipal Stadium Box Office.
View 2016 San Jose Giants Schedule