Giants coach Gary Pettis ready to bring aggressive mindset to uneven offense

MILWAUKEE — Dressed head to toe, appropriately, in a sweatsuit the color of the Golden Gate Bridge, Gary Pettis paced down the foul line and behind the batting cage, shaking hands, making acquaintances and catching up with old friends.The 68-year-old baseball lifer walked with an aura only achieved through experience.Pettis, hired by the Giants this week to replace a first-time third base coach whose lack of seasoning caught up to him, had little time to take stock of the group of players he will soon be in charge of sending or stopping toward home plate.He will assume the duties in the third-base coach’s box for the first time in a Giants uniform — No.81 — Friday at Wrigley Field, a rarely seen midseason hire from outside the organization.“I know a few guys but not most of them,” said Pettis, who at least at first will lean on a wealth of knowledge built over an 11-year playing career and 22 more years in the coaching ranks at the sport’s highest level, including for three World Series teams and eight division winners. “I’m gonna have to see who runs well, maybe take a chance with those guys.

And then there’s some guys you may not take a chance with, and that’s something I’m going to have to learn on the fly.”Asked to describe his style of coaching at third, Pettis chuckled.“Most people would say aggressive,” he said.“That’s the way I played, and that’s the way I coach.”Whether the Giants have the personnel to allow Pettis to windmill his arm as much as he would like is something he will have to figure out.

But there is plenty of room for improvement.Beyond first-year base coach Hector Borg’s troubles deciding to send runners or give them the stop sign in more than one high-profile situation, Giants baserunners have been the worst in the majors according to FanGraphs’ all-encompassing value metric.They have stolen only 15 bases — seven fewer than the next-closest team — and scored the third-fewest runs while being t...