Championship pedigree finds a new home. Ron Washington brings his World Series experience to San Francisco's infield in 2026.
Former Los Angeles Angels manager Ron Washington will become the next infield coach for the San Francisco Giants, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. The move comes a couple of months after the Angels informed the 73-year-old that he would not be returning as the club’s manager in 2026.
Washington became the Halos’ skipper ahead of the 2024 season. With him, he brought a championship pedigree, winning the World Series as a third base coach in 2021 with the Atlanta Braves and reaching it twice as the manager of the Texas Rangers in 2010 and 2011.
Unfortunately for Angels fans, he wasn’t able to bring that same level of success to Anaheim. In his first season with the club, Washington led the Angels to just 63 wins, a bottom-five record in all of baseball. The Angels weren’t exactly expected to be a team contending for a World Series at the end of the season, but fans were expecting more after bringing in a respected manager like Washington.
2025 went better for Washington, at least for a short while. His Angels were hovering around a .500 record before Washington was forced to step away due to health issues. Ray Montgomery stepped in as the interim coach for the rest of the season, where the Halos eventually finished with a 72-90 record.
Despite Washington showing more promise as the club’s manager last season, the Angels decided to let both him and Montgomery go and enter the market for a new manager altogether. They ultimately landed on former catcher Kurt Suzuki as the club’s manager in 2026.
Washington will stay in the coaching world, this time in a different role with a different California squad. The Giants finished 2025 with an 81-81 record, missing out on the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year. Both Washington and the Giants will hope they can help each other reach the postseason once again in 2026.