Zack Minasian 'elated' by promotion to Giants GM

Buster Posey admitted that Zack Minasian wasn’t on his radar when he began looking for a new general manager a month ago. But the more he asked around, the more he became convinced that the ideal man for the job might already be in the Giants’ front office.

After an extensive search, the Giants announced Friday that Minasian, who has served as San Francisco’s pro scouting director since 2019, will be promoted to GM and serve as Posey’s top lieutenant and thought partner.

“I’ll be honest -- I haven’t told Zack this -- I didn’t go into this process thinking that Zack was even a candidate,” Posey said during a Zoom call with reporters. “When I got word that he was somebody I should look into, I was open-minded. But if I’m again being honest, I probably didn’t see us sitting right here a month later once this process started. No offense, Zack.”

Minasian’s elevation marks the first major upper-level hiring made by Posey, who took over as the Giants’ new president of baseball operations on Sept. 30. Posey expressed a desire to bring in a GM with a scouting background to work under him, which caught the attention of Minasian given his credentials.

Minasian, a holdover from the Farhan Zaidi regime, joined the Giants in 2019 after spending the previous 14 seasons with the Brewers organization, where he rose to become a pro scouting director by age 27. In Milwaukee, Minasian worked for two successful GMs, Doug Melvin and David Stearns, and played a part in acquiring players such as CC Sabathia, Zack Greinke, Josh Hader and Will Smith.

While he felt he was qualified to be the GM, Minasian said he wasn’t expecting Posey to reach out and offer him a chance to interview for the role.

“Thinking back and listening to Buster’s initial interview and what he described as far as what he wanted in the role, my eyebrows kind of raised, like, ‘I think that sounds like me,’” Minasian said. “But quite honestly, I’ve been around this game for my whole life. Thinking about the GM role, it was so far above what I ever thought [was possible]. It’s such a dream. I don’t think you really think it’s realistic at times. I tried to get it out of my head and really just focus on working.

“This organization has been great to me since the first day I walked in the doors. It was important to me to continue on with the Giants in whatever role Buster thought was best. Obviously, I was elated when he asked me about interviewing for this. The rest is history, and I feel very fortunate.”

Posey interacted with Minasian a bit before ending his playing career in 2021 and said he felt “a really strong connection” when the two began to have extended conversations during the interview process.

“He’s got great feel,” Posey said. “That’s a big part of this job. You want to be available, but you also don’t want to be in the player’s way. We kind of talked about that.

“I really feel like he gets what it means to be a San Francisco Giant. He’s all in on helping us put a team on the field that our fan base can be excited about and that can fill the ballpark up and get back to making those great memories that we’ve all grown so fond of over the last 15 years or so. I’m excited about the person. I really am. I’m excited to go into something that we all know is going to be a challenge. It’s going to be a really fun challenge. For me, I’m excited to do it along with somebody that I know I’m going to enjoy working with.”

Minasian, 41, grew up around the game, as he got his start working for his dad, also named Zack, a longtime clubhouse manager for the Rangers. He is the younger brother of current Angels GM Perry Minasian and the godson of Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda. Another Minasian brother, Calvin, is also the director of equipment and clubhouse services for the Braves.

Minasian said he tries to avoid talking about baseball with Perry, though they should have more opportunities to dialogue now that they both occupy GM seats. The siblings will have a chance to reunite at the GM Meetings, which begin on Monday in San Antonio, Texas.

“Our conversations are usually about our kids, believe it or not, not as much about baseball,” Minasian said. “Major League Baseball has pretty strict rules about what we can talk to each other about. Perry is about as competitive as they come. Showing my cards to Perry probably isn’t the best thing for the Giants. … For the most part, I kind of let him do his thing professionally, and he’ll let me do mine.”