HIRING UPDATE: Giants POACH Tennessee Strength GURU | Interest in Max Scherzer AND Justin Verlander

HIRING UPDATE: Giants POACH Tennessee Strength GURU | Interest in Max Scherzer AND Justin Verlander

The Giants continue their hiring spree as they bring in a new director of performance. Will he help their exit vos and their speed on the base pads? It’s all coming up on Locked on Giants. You are Locked on Giants, your daily San Francisco Giants podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. What’s up y’all? I’m Alan Styles and welcome to Locked On Giants, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network. On the show, we provide daily episodes Monday through Friday talking about the San Francisco Giants in a way that combines passion, analytics with the eye test, and a little bit of fun. I’m from the Bay Area, but I live in Sacramento now and host a show on Sacktown Sports 1140, as well as MCing Sacramento River games. All in all, I’m lucky enough to cover a team I’ve been a fan of all my life. Today we are breaking down the new director of performance for the Giants, whether they should go after Justin Verland or Max Scherzer, both or neither. And last but not least, a player profile on their newest pitcher, Logan Martin. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. So, as we’ve talked about before on this show, there are going to be certain hires that come through and they’re going to be based on certain guys within the organization, right? Could be a Buster Posie guy, could be uh somebody else, and obviously it could be a Tony Vitello guy. So, this guy is coming on over from Tennessee. His name is Quinton Eberhart. All right. He was with Tony Vitello. He left for a stint with the Cubs and then came back to Knoxville. And here is the report. This is from Knox News. Happy Monday to everyone. By the way, this is from Knox News. Quinton Eberhart is leaving Tennessee baseball to be the director of performance with the San Francisco Giants. Sources with direct knowledge of the situation told Knox News. Ibrahart will oversee major league strength and conditioning, sports, science, nutrition, and mental health. All right, so uh he came uh he came over to San Francisco. I don’t know if he’s here yet, but he’s coming over to San Francisco from Knoxville. Like I said, he had that tenure with the Cubs, but besides that, he was at Tennessee two separate times. This is from the Tennessee Baseball website and I felt like it was a good thing to bring up for those who might not be aware because it made me uh very very excited for what he’s done with them and what he might be able to do with honestly maybe more of our younger guys but even some of our vets as well. Tennessee has put up record setting power numbers over the past two seasons thanks in large part to Eber Hart’s efforts. The balls once again displayed impressive power in 2025, finishing as one of the nation’s leaders in home runs for the fifth straight year. UT hit 131 long balls, which ranked second in the country and marked the fourth consecutive season. It has hit 100 or more homers. Tennessee had eight players hit double-digit dingers, uh, led by Andrew Fiser, who hit 25. On the pitching side of things, UT’s top three single season strikeout totals in program history have come under Iberhart’s watch with 738 in 2023, 729 in 2025, and 700 in 2024. During its record setting 2024 season, Tennessee reached the mountain top by winning the first national championship in program history. Uh, the Big Orange led the nation with a program record 184 home runs, which ranks second in D1 history, just four shy of the NCAA record of 188 homers. Throughout Ibrahart’s first tint with the program, UT saw drastic increases in its power numbers each season. This is what I think everybody is is pretty excited and juiced up about. The Valls had 141 extra base hits and 42 home runs during his first season in 2018 after finishing with 123 base hits and just 33 homers in the year prior. Tennessee made an even bigger leap in 2019 with 173 extra base hits and 53 long balls. The balls were on pace to shatter those numbers in 2020 before that season was cut short in just 17 games. They already had 77 extra base hits and 31 homers. Tennessee made another huge leap in 2021, blasting 98 homers, racking up 244 extra base hits in route to making its first trip to Omaha since 2005. Uh, it wasn’t just the bats that displayed major improvements under Eberhart as UT’s pitchers also increased their strikeout totals during each of his four seasons. After finishing with only 198 strikeouts in 2017, Tennessee’s pitching staff nearly doubled that in 2018 with 383 punchouts in 2019. The Balls finished the year ranked 33rd in the country with 551 strikeouts, the second most in a single season in program history. through 17 games in 2020. The pitchers had already racked up 171 strikeouts and were averaging 10.1 Ks per nine innings. The 2021 team went on to set a new program record with 617 punchouts while averaging nine strikeouts per game. Here is here’s one for all of you stolen base fans out here to close it out. The Big Orange increased their speed during Eberhart’s watch as well, ranking among the SEC and national leaders in stolen bases multiple times. In 2019, UT led all Power Five programs with 108 stolen bases. It’s most in a single season since 2005. All right. So, a lot of people have been talking about stolen bases. A lot of people talking about the power. Now, we understand that Oracle is not really a power spot, but they’re just getting stronger in general. They’re getting faster. They’re throwing the ball harder. They’re hitting the ball farther, right? So, this dude, like I said, he has been around and they wanted him in major league spaces. He’s been with a couple different teams. We talked about his stint with the Cubs. He played uh in college as well. He played at Norfolk State where my mom went to school. Uh also, just a little I I was reading that. I thought, “Oh, there you go. Shout out the Spartans.” So, this guy knows what he’s talking about. And this guy, whatever it is, I was reading something about after they lost to Arkansas a year or two ago and how he had them running up and down the field and just getting their conditioning and their stamina, everything right. Now, I don’t know how that necessarily translates to Major League Baseball because with 162 games, you’re not going to be doing that. But the offseason programs to me is where this stuff is going to get implemented and going to change a lot. And I would say, as I mentioned at the at the top of the segment, I think it will be cool for the vets, right, to maybe lock into some stuff. But let’s take a Grant McCrae who has shown a little bit of pop. Maybe he can tap into something else. Wade Meckler, who’s already good at the bat to ball skills, but he doesn’t really hit the long ball. Just kind of unlocking maybe another level that these guys haven’t had. and then stolen bases. This is exactly what we’re talking about, what I’ve been talking about with a guy like Elliot Ramos who has decent speed but doesn’t necessarily seal bags. Maybe this can take all these guys to the next step. And obviously to close it out, all the young guys, right? Once you have this system implemented, all of these 18-year-olds, all of these international prospects that you’re adding, you’re getting them at such a young age, relatively speaking, you can mold them and we can see a lot of improvements there. So, this could really unlock some things for the Giants. And good on Tony Vitello for being able to pluck him away from Tennessee. I was reading, like I said, I was reading the Knox news, so some of the comments. Not too excited about it, but this is what happens when you have Tony Vitello and somebody who has made these connections. Yeah, do not do not forget the name. Okay, this is a guy Quinton Eberhart who could really change things for the Giants. So, we’ll see what happens there. On the other side, let’s talk about somebody who’s already worked with Tony Vitello, Max Scherzer. He’s a free agent. Justin Verlander is available as well. Should the Giants bring both of them in, either of them in or neither of them in? Let’s talk Sherzer and Verlander on the other side. More lockedown Giants coming up. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. 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Mention my promo code locked onsf in store to get 15% off your first order or shop online at shopder.com/locktonsf for that same 15% off. That’s shopd.com/locktonsf. Your new favorite jeans are waiting. So, let’s talk about the vets. Okay. Max Scherzer or Justin Verlander and or Justin Verlander or neither of them. Let’s start here with what Tony Vitello had to say at the the GM meetings. Quote, “I’d be all for it, but he loves where he’s at and he has good options.” Vitello said, “Money makes the world go round, but I would never want to use our personal relationship to take advantage of a personal situation or gain an edge.” He did go on to say that Sherzer was one of the people that he turned to for advice when he was considering the Giants job after the hire was announced. Sherer saying Vitalello’s praises to MLB.com as his Toronto Blue Jays were preparing for the World Series. And here’s his quote. This is from around the Fogghorn. Just his kind of breakdown. I’m just so happy for him. Sherzer said, “Happy he got the opportunity to be able to get to the big leagues. I’ve been friends with him my whole time, ever since Missou. I’ve known the fire in him. I know the passion that he has. I’ve always believed in him.” So, I have a just a comparison, right? Because both of these guys, when you’re talking about Sherzer and Verlander, I think the bottom line is you you can’t have both of them. I don’t think you can have both of them on the squad. There there is a path and I will explain what that path is, but I’ll so I’ll change it. You can’t have both of them in your rotation. I don’t think you can do that. Here’s the comparison. And it’s not really fair to Sherzer because he had some injuries, but Verlander’s 42. He was 4-1 with a 385 erra in 29 games, 152 innings with 137 strikeouts. Max Scherzer, 41 years old, he was 5 and five with a 519 erra. 17 games with 85 innings, 82 strikeouts. Max Scherzer had that thumb injury, but did show what he could do in game seven of the World Series after pitching four innings and only giving up one run. So the only thing I can think is this is a a situation where you would stash him and I think that Sherzer would be way more open to this than Verlander. We know Verlander is chasing those wins. Sherzer to me would just be around for good vibes. Could you use him as a spotarter as opposed to for example a Kai Tang? Now, this no disrespect to Kaiwi Tang with the hope is that you don’t have to spot start him either, but I just don’t see a world where you have both of them. And the only reason I brought up Kaiwi Tang is because I don’t personally think that he is going to be a starter in this league anyway. So, could you use Sherzer in that way? He talked about the ability to still hit mid 90s and when he did feel right when his thumb was feeling better and he missed I think three months of the season but he did say when he felt right and we saw it in the World Series he does feel like he has a level of gas left in the tank. Both these guys want to get to contenders. So I guess it depends on what you feel about uh the Giants whether you think that they’re contenders or not. I mean, they’re going to be fighting for a playoff spot, and we know that in baseball, all you got to do is get in. So, I I guess to a certain degree, yeah, I they’re contenders. Here’s the difference, though. Would you have called the Reds a contender? The Reds got into the playoffs. I don’t think the Reds were contenders. They played in the playoffs, which is more than the Giants did. Now, the Giants are leveling up, and you could say that they underachieved, right? The Giants underachieved. The Mets underachieved. also missed in the playoffs. So, you could be an a contender and underachieve. I don’t see uh if Verlander comes back, I think that he did more last season, but I also think he’s going to expect more. He’s going to want to be a starter in that rotation every week and uh you know, every every time his spot comes around. That’s what I think Verlander wants to do. I do think Verlander showed more, but Verlander was also healthier. Max Sherzer, I think, would be more chill. you would bring him on. He would show up when you need him to, maybe even maybe even relief in some spots. So, it’s tough. I think that Verlander is the better player at this point in time, but I think he’s going to come with more of a expectation to, hey, I’m one of the guys I, you know, went four and 11. I should have done much better than that. Some of that’s on me. Some of that’s on the team. So, yeah, I should obviously be in this rotation without a doubt, right? every time every time that spot comes up. So that’s probably how Justin Verlander feels. I don’t necessarily know that. Well, I I don’t necessarily know that that’s how Verlander feels, but that’s how it has come off in the past and that’s kind of what I heard. I mean, this is why he’s still doing it at this point. So, bullpen conversations and just more flexibility. I just think that Sherza would give you that even if he has a little bit less in the tank. And you could say, I don’t know, maybe due to the injury, he saved some bullets, if you will, right? Because he wasn’t pitching, he was injured and Verlander was out there. He threw way more innings. Maybe it’s reverse psychology and you feel like we’re actually going to go with Sherzer because he didn’t throw as much last season and and Justin Verlander was was everywhere. So, you can look at it that way, too. I I would in a perfect world to be completely honest with you I would not go with either of them. I think that we’re to the point I mean if Sherzer wants to jump on and if those remember the the Miami Heat with Udonis Hasslam who didn’t play at all I think Sherzer would at least pitch sometimes but if you wanted to bring on Sherzer for a kind of mentor role and when you need somebody he can pop in. I don’t even know if their bodies are able to do that cuz they’re just so used to being uh in a process and used to being uh in a in a rotation and in a schedule and having things kind of laid out for them. But if he would be willing to do that, I would take him. Yeah, deep down I just would rather not have either of them. And that’s no disrespect to them. They’re both Hall of Famers. I would just rather go a little bit younger. But if you’re making me This is a tough one. This is a tough one. If you’re looking at it from a starter standpoint, hey, we need that fifth starter, I would go Verlander just based on I just saw more of him. If you’re looking at it as a we kind of just need an arm, a spot starter, somebody that may even be willing to come out of the bullpen, then I would go Sherzer because I think Sherzer would be more open to that than Justin Verlin. But we’ll see. Uh, I have a weird feeling it will be Sherzer, but I don’t think that he will be used as much as Justin Verlander was just used this past season. At least I hope not. One more segment with you. It’s time for a player profile on Logan Martin. This is the pitcher that the Giants took a chance on as they moved on from Mason Black. One more segment with you. Locked on Giants. Don’t move. NFL season is back and honestly there’s nothing better than being in the stadium surrounded by fans cheering on your team. But let’s be honest, getting tickets can be a hassle. Between cues, login screens, and pricing jumping up at checkout, it’s frustrating. That’s why I use Game Time, the app that gives the advantage back to fans. 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And we are talking about Logan Martin, a player profile on the right-handed pitcher that came over in the Mason Black trade from the Royals as Mason Black is now headed to Kansas City. 24 years old, drafted in the 12th round in 2023 by the Royals out of University of Kentucky. So, chances are he may have some familiarity with Tony Vitello. In his draft year after he got drafted, he did get a cup of coffee, but these last two seasons have really been where he started to make a name for himself. The truth be told, this kind of has more to do with Mason Black. He was designated for assignment and the Royals were clearly interested. probably thought he wouldn’t clear waivers, so they wanted to make a move to go get him. So, basically, it sounds like a situation where it’s uh the the Royals saying, “Hey, give us Mason Black and we’ll give you something that we think has a little bit of upside, but obviously not too much since clearly you didn’t think too highly of Mason Black at this moment since you designated him for assignment.” So, the Royals landed on Martin, who does have some upside, but when you’re looking at your prospect list, he’s the type of guy that you’re going to be willing to part with for a dude in Mason Black, who was a third round pick and already made it to the big leagues. As far as the Giants are concerned, this is what they’re getting with Martin. This is from my guy Jeff Young. The righty pitcher throws a slider with a couple different looks and a change up. One of his sliders sits in the mid to high 80s. Admittedly, this might be more of a cutter. He also throws a low8 slider with more sweeping action. The change up has some promise, but he does not throw it as often. So, he was never on the Royals top 30 prospect list, but he did make a solid amount of progress in a short period of time, which is always the hope with these college guys. Like I said, 24 years old. So, he came in what around 22, 23. And because he uh made so much progress, he was selected to be a part of the Arizona Fall League, which is where a lot of top prospects uh do get to show off their stuff. So, I think the path for him and the hope for Logan Martin is that at some point he gets called up to double A in 2026 and then in 2027, which would make him 25, 26 years old, he’d be out here in Sacramento with me and then kind of a late 30s guy, which happens pretty often with college guys. 28, 29 years old, he could be in San Francisco doing his thing at Oracle Park. So, that’s obviously the hope with all these guys. We don’t know if that’s going to be the case, but yeah, I mean, he throws mid9s. He clearly has a lot of confidence in what he’s throwing. He clearly has a lot of experience as a as a college guy, SEC experience. The Giants just love the SEC right now, by the way. Obviously Tony Vitella, but the Tennessee guys that they have and now grabbing Logan Martin, they they like the SEC because the SEC is a very very high level of of baseball, you know, and a lot of people would compare it to rookie ball and things like that just based on the the amount of talent that’s out there and how refined a lot of that talent is. So, it’s kind of turning into uh a a breeding ground, if you will, for a lot of these teams to go out and get guys that they think are going to be ready for the big leagues and they think that at least will be able to understand what is understood at the big league level and it won’t be as shell shocked when they get there, right? A lot of these guys, and you never know, you know, I’m a I’m a mid- major guy and there are some guys from the Atlantic 10, shout out the Atlantic 10, that make it to the big leagues, too. But all in all, when you’re seeing 98 99, the fastest I’ve ever seen is 96, right? But when you’re seeing 98 99, when you’re seeing guys that already were drafted, but turn it down to get drafted higher, that’s just another level. So, there is a reason that the the Giants and a lot of these teams are really interested in in the SEC and they’re trying to just add as much talent as possible. Logan Martin to me he’s just a classic case of what the Giants have had which isn’t a bad thing but just a guy that understands who he is has to work on his location just like everyone else has to uh and by the way he pitched in they won the Arizona Fall League. So they won the Arizona Fall League. His team did and he pitched in that game. I believe he was the last pitcher to pop up but he had two strikeouts in the championship game. Right. So there’s always a level of upside. Again, you get him around uh the the director of performance and you never know what could happen. I think the Giants saw enough in him, but understood it was kind of a lowrisk, lowreward move when you had already DFA Mason Black and unfortunately it didn’t work out with Mason Black. But those are the the kinds of moves and they haven’t made a lot of trades, but they’re starting to get into the fringes here, which I think is something that they spoke about as well. They want internal internal guys to to show up and to do their thing. But as they’re building up the farm system, if there’s a guy that they think has a little bit of promise and they think something can be found there, kind of a hidden gem type of deal, they’re going to take their chances and they’re going to take their swings, no pun intended. So, we’ll see what happens with Logan Martin. Hopefully, he makes his way out to Sacramento sooner rather than later. But if not, happy trails to to Mason Black. Thank you for listening to Locked On Giants. Thank you for watching Locked on Giants. We will be back tomorrow continuing to break down everything going on in this Giants off season. Be sure to follow me on social media at the_styles Files Styles with an I and on our official locked Giants account as well on X and on Tik Tok. We will talk to you tomorrow. Until then, peace.

The Giants just made another major off-field addition — and this one might be the most important hire of the Tony Vitello era so far. Today’s episode breaks down the arrival of Quentin Eberhardt, Tennessee’s elite Director of Performance and the architect behind the most powerful college baseball program in the country. We dig into what his strength, conditioning, sports science, and development systems produced at Tennessee — from historic home run totals to record strikeout numbers — and what that could mean for the Giants’ long-term identity under Vitello.

We also dive into whether the Giants should target Max Scherzer or Justin Verlander as the veteran rotation stabilizer, and why Vitello’s comments about his long relationship with Scherzer make the conversation more complicated than it seems.

Plus:
– Full breakdown of Logan Martin, the right-hander acquired in the Mason Black trade
– How he fits into the Giants’ developmental ladder
– Whether his pitch mix is enough to matter by 2026

Loaded episode today — coaching staff philosophy, player development, free-agent pitching strategy, and how Vitello’s culture is already reshaping the franchise. Tap in.

0:00 New Director of Performance hired
10:59 Scherzer, Verlander, or neither?
19:13 Player Profile: Logan Martin

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