Former LCSC player Ecker recently named hitting coach for Giants

Former Lewis-Clark State College baseball player Donnie Ecker recently was named one of two hitting coaches for the San Francisco Giants.

The former Warrior was an assistant hitting coach with the Cincinnati Reds a season ago.

Ecker is part of a youth movement for the Giants, who replaced retired manager Bruce Bochy with former Philadelphia manager Gabe Kapler on Nov. 12. He will share duties with Justin Viele, who previously was in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ system.

In fact, Ecker, 33, is a half-year younger than three-time All-Star third baseman Evan Longoria and six-time All-Star and 2012 National League MVP Buster Posey. Longoria and Ecker previously played together in 2005 at Long Beach State as freshmen.

Ecker is part of a new wave of hitting coaches. He incorporates a lot of human movement research and technology-based applications and also is an Integrated Movement Specialist and is certified under the IFPA Biomechanics of Sports, according to the Giants’ website.

Ecker’s approach to the game seems to be working. Aristides Aquino, a top Reds prospect who was called up to the majors toward the end of 2019, hit 19 homers in just 205 at-bats with a .259 average. He had eight doubles, 47 RBI, was slugging at a .576 clip and had an .891 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.

The Giants ranked 28th in the majors in runs, on-base percentage and slugging percentage and 27th in batting average in 2019.

“The Giants organization is getting a good one, just a great person, super-talented in what he does — just the understanding of the swing, understanding of how the body works, but he’s also really well-balanced in his approach in all facets of hitting,” Cincinnati manager David Bell told the San Francisco Chronicle last week.

Ecker played in 29 games with nine starts with LCSC in 2007. The utility infielder wound up hitting .238 with two doubles and three triples. The Warriors posted a 58-5 record that year, which set the program record for season winning percentage at .921 and also tied the record for fewest losses in a season. The team won the Avista NAIA World Series title and was inducted in the LC State Athletic Hall of Fame earlier this year as a part of that team.

After his one year with the Warriors, Ecker was taken in the 22nd round of the MLB draft by the Texas Rangers. He never got above Low Single-A ball, playing with the Spokane Indians in 2008 before heading to independent baseball, retiring from playing in 2012.

He got his start in coaching at his high school alma mater, Los Altos (Calif.) High School, as an assistant two years for longtime coach Sandy Wihtol before Wihtol stepped down and Ecker took over in November 2012. He then spent three seasons as the hitting coach in the St. Louis Cardinals’ farm system for High Single-A Palm Beach (2015-16) and Low Single-A Peoria (2017) before moving to the Los Angeles Angels’ organization in 2018 to become Triple-A Salt Lake’s hitting coach.

With having such a young coaching staff, the Giants might have some older players who might tune out the message. But Bell had a message for those who might think that.

“As a young, middle or older player, I wish I would have had a lot of information I have now, and a lot of that I learned from him,” Bell told the Chronicle.

“It’s all about Donnie’s style and his delivery and his ability to communicate. He has such a great understanding. Part of what makes him good is, he can take pretty complex ideas and simplify them for the team.”