The Toronto Blue Jays suddenly have another coaching vacancy to fill.

According to The Athletic’s Mitch Bannon, assistant hitting coach Hunter Mense is set to depart the organization this off-season to become the San Francisco Giants’ lead hitting coach under first-year manager Tony Vitello.

The two will be reunited after Mense played for the University of Missouri (2004-06) during Vitello’s tenure as an assistant coach from 2003-10, overlapping in those three seasons.

Mense joined the Blue Jays organization ahead of the 2018 season, serving as double-A New Hampshire’s hitting coach under then-manager John Schneider. Over the next three seasons, he worked as the franchise’s minor-league hitting coordinator before joining the major-league staff as an assistant hitting coach prior to the ’22 season.

Changes were made to the hitting department last winter, as the club parted ways with Guillermo Martinez and re-assigned Don Mattingly to traditional bench duties. But Mense survived the turnover, continuing to serve as an assistant under David Popkins and alongside fellow assistant Lou Iannotti this past season.

To that end, Toronto’s lineup overcame its 2024 woes and transformed into one of baseball’s best, all-around offences, leading all MLB teams in AVG (.265), AVG with runners in scoring position (.292) and OBP (.333), while posting the lowest strikeout (17.8 per cent) and whiff rates (21.6 per cent).

Additionally, they ranked first in the sport in wRC+ (118, 100 league average) and tied for the highest SLG (.447) with the New York Yankees over the final four months of the regular season.

The Blue Jays will also need to hire a new bench coach before next season, following Mattingly’s resignation earlier this month.