How Borg rose to become Giants’ new 3B coach

This story was excerpted from Maria Guardado’s Giants Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Hector Borg knows firsthand that being a third-base coach is a high-pressure job.

Before being promoted to fill that role on Giants manager Tony Vitello’s coaching staff, Borg spent seven years coaching third base for Toros del Este of the Dominican Winter League, which is known for its passionate energy and party-like atmosphere.

“Down there, baseball is always on fire,” Borg said. “It’s 27 outs, loud.”

If Borg made a questionable call to either hold or send a runner, fans in his home country wouldn’t hesitate to let him know.

“They try to search who you are,” Borg said. “They want to call you by your name. You don’t get a lot of nice words from them, but it’s normal. It’s part of the game. You get that everywhere you go.”

Borg knows that a similar level of scrutiny will probably follow him to the Majors, but he’s eager to embrace the challenge. The 40-year-old has served as a coach in the Giants’ organization for nearly two decades, making a steady climb up the ladder before finally getting his first chance to join the big league staff this year.

“I feel blessed to have this opportunity,” Borg said. “I’m ready. I’m super happy. I’m trying to help the players every day, and I’m going to enjoy the moment.”

A native of San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic, Borg signed with the Giants as an international free agent in 2004 and played in the Minors for four seasons before transitioning into coaching.

The former infielder got his first coaching gig in the Dominican Summer League in 2008 and went on to hold a variety of player development roles at several Giants affiliates, including managing stints at the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League (2017), Short-A Salem-Keizer (2018) and High-A San Jose (2019).

Borg spent the last two years serving as the Giants’ Arizona complex coordinator and made an immediate impression on Vitello when the two met to discuss a possible role on the big league coaching staff over the offseason.

“The guy's been around baseball a ton and has wrapped up a lot of years as a coach,” Vitello said. “Zoom calls are not fun, but if you're on a Zoom call with him, you can feel his energy coming through the screen. … He's an impressive person, but he is a younger coach that is incredibly eager to learn.”

Borg said he’s been watching an average of 20 to 25 videos per day to soak up as much information as possible and put himself in the best position to make split-second decisions once games start.

“Coaching third base is a lot of preparation,” Borg said. “You’ve got to watch a lot of videos, trust the runners, the players. Know them very well, know the speed, know the arms of the opposing team. It’s a lot of stuff that I’ve got to put together, but when you prepare every day, you feel comfortable trying to make a decision and react to what you see in the game.”

Borg will have a few former Giants third-base coaches to lean on heading into 2026, as he described Joey Amalfitano as an early mentor and said he recently had a lengthy phone conversation with Ron Wotus. Borg has also been working closely with Ron Washington, who served as the third-base coach for the A’s and Braves before becoming the Giants’ Major League infield coach this year.

Borg will have a lot to learn this year, but he already knows what kind of style he wants to have on the field for the Giants.

“I’m an aggressive third-base coach,” Borg said. “I’ve always been that way.”

That approach is cool with Vitello, who said he simply wants Borg to relax and let plays develop.

"I think you'd rather err on the side of being aggressive and then pull back, as opposed to tiptoeing around and not knowing,” Vitello said.

In addition to coaching third base and helping Washington with the infielders, Borg is expected to serve as a key conduit between Vitello and the Giants’ Latin American players.

Vitello doesn’t have much experience coaching international players since he came from the college game, but he traveled to the Dominican Republic to meet with Rafael Devers and Willy Adames over the offseason and is getting a chance to pick up some Spanish this spring.

“I’m going to be there for him, helping him every day to communicate with the Latinos when I can,” Borg said. “I think he’s putting a good effort also, learning some words and phrases, so I’m going to help him.”