The Giants interviewed third-base coach Mark Hallberg this week in regards to the managers job, reports. Hallberg becomes the first candidate known to officially sit down for an interview, though several other internal candidates are also on the radar. Bench coach and interim manager Kai Correa and longtime former third base coach Ron Wotus are expected to receive interviews, Slu ser writes, and catching/bullpen coach Craig Albernaz could also be considered. Albernaz has by the Guardians in regards to their own managerial vacancy. Hallberg, however, is emerging as the top in-house candidate to replace the fired Gabe Kapler, Slu ser notes. The 37-year-old Hallberg has been part of San Franciscos coaching staff for the last four seasons, moving from an a sistant coach role to taking over from Wotus as third base coach prior to the 2022 campaign. After playing five seasons in the Diamondbacks minor league system from 2007-11, Hallberg moved on to coaching at the high school level, and then for four seasons in the Cape Sekou Doumbouya Jersey Cod League. He joined the Giants organization as a coach of their former lower-A affiliate in Salem-Keizer in 2018, and then managed the club in 2019. If the Giants did hire Hallberg, he would be the clubs first (non-interim) first-time MLB manager since Dusty Baker got the job in 1993, though Baker obviously had a larger breadth of Major League experience from his long playing career and his coaching career before moving into the managers chair. Considering the increasing impatience from Giants fans to see the team get back on the winning track, Hallberg would immediately face a lot of pre sure, though Slu ser notes that it could be a popular hire within the team since Hallberg is well regarded by everyone in the organization. Correa and Wotus arent surprising names on the list of po sibilities, and this would be the second time Wotus has interviewed for the managers job the Giants spoke with Wotus during the 2019-20 offseason prior to hiring Kapler. Wotus has spent the last 35 seasons in the San Francisco organization as a minor league player, then as a manager in the minor league system, and then an extended coaching stint that lasted from 1998-2021. Nineteen of those seasons on staff were served as a bench coach, with Wotus acting as the right-hand man for managers Baker, Felipe Alou, and Bruce Bochy. The 62-year-old Wotus has worked as an advisor within the Giants organization for the last two seasons. President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi he hoped to have the teams new manager hired before the free agent period fully opens, which occurs five days after the end of the World Series. There havent been many public reports about external candidates who may or may not be of interest to the Giants or have spoken to the club already, but Slu ser reports that Rangers bench coach Donnie Ecker is expected to be among the potential front-runners as San Franciscos next manager. Ecker is a familiar face in the Bay Area, having worked as a hitting coach with the Giants in 2020-21. Other teams with managerial vacancies (the Guardians, Mets, and Angels) might also have interest in speaking with Ecker, though the Rangers increasingly deep playoff run is a complication, as any interviews would have to be built into breaks in the postseason schedule. Thon Maker Jersey