Tony Vitello, new manager of the San Francisco Giants
After days of negotiations, Tony Vitello has been named manager of the San Francisco Giants, the team announced on Wednesday. This appointment marks a milestone, as it is the first time a Major League team has hired a manager directly from a college program, without prior experience as a professional coach. Vitello, who considered staying in Tennessee, where he won the Men’s College World Series in 2024, replaces Bob Melvin, who was fired on September 29 after an 81-81 season, the Giants’ fourth consecutive year without reaching the playoffs.Vitello, 47, is recognized as one of the best coaches in college baseball. He is known for his energy, his ability to recruit talent, and transform programs that had been in mediocrity for decades. He became the Giants’ top target after former San Francisco catcher Nick Hundley withdrew from consideration.I am incredibly honored and grateful for this opportunity. I am excited to lead this group of players and represent the San Francisco Giants. I can’t wait to get started and work to establish a culture that will make the Giants faithful proud.
Tony Vitello
By hiring Vitello, San Francisco’s president of baseball operations, Buster Posey, is betting that Vitello’s success at Tennessee will translate to the Major Leagues. He was chosen over former Baltimore Orioles manager Brandon Hyde and two other former Major League catchers interviewed by the Giants: Kurt Suzuki and Vance Wilson. Vitello stood out as one of the most prominent coaches in the country during a two-decade career as an assistant and head coach in college, so much so that the Giants were willing to pay the $3 million buyout clause of his contract, according to sources.
The closest example to Vitello would be Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy, who spent 25 years coaching in college before joining the San Diego Padres as a minor league manager. Murphy then spent eight years as the Brewers’ bench coach before taking over as manager in 2024, when he won the National League Manager of the Year award. Vitello’s move to the Major Leagues will be much faster. Outside of a first-place finish in the National League West in 2021, the Giants have finished third or worse in the division every year since 2017. Beyond the dominance of the Los Angeles Dodgers, evaluators see the Giants as a less talented team than San Diego and Arizona as well. San Francisco’s core, with first baseman Rafael Devers, shortstop Willy Adames, and third baseman Matt Chapman, is solid and could be strengthened this winter through free agent spending, according to sources. After more than 10 years as an assistant coach at Missouri, TCU and Arkansas, Vitello took over the Tennessee program before the 2018 season and recorded a 341-131 record, advancing to the Men’s College World Series in 2021, 2023 and 2024. With a couple of first-round draft picks and four second-round picks, Tennessee defeated Texas A&M to win the school’s first national baseball championship last year. Vitello, whose boisterous personality made him beloved in Tennessee and irked other SEC schools, enters a completely different realm in MLB. While college jobs are often defined by the success of recruiting classes, Major League teams are built by baseball operations departments with the manager relying on locker room cohesion, in-game decision-making, bullpen usage, and daily interactions with the media. Tennessee athletic director Danny White issued a statement Wednesday thanking Vitello for elevating the Vols to a “championship program.” The reluctance of MLB teams to delve into the college ranks to seek managers has been established for a long time and has gone against the hiring practices of other professional sports leagues. NFL teams have regularly recruited head coaches from the college ranks, and in the NBA, there is no stigma associated with college coaches. Major League organizations have been more open to hiring coaches from college than managers. Pitching coach Wes Johnson left Arkansas to take the same position with the Minnesota Twins in 2019; he left the Twins three years later to accept the pitching coach job at LSU before joining Georgia as their head coach before the 2024 season. In an interview in June, Vitello said that his reputation as a troublemaker did not bother him and that he had no plans to change his training approach, which required pushing boundaries. “I don’t think you know where the line is until you cross it. And then you make an adjustment,” Vitello said. “I don’t want our guys, if they’re given a coloring book, I don’t want them to just color inside the lines. You know, invent something different.”We are thrilled to welcome Tony to the Giants family. Tony is one of the brightest, most innovative, and respected coaches in college baseball today. Throughout our search, Tony’s leadership, competitiveness, and commitment to player development stood out. His ability to build strong, cohesive teams and his passion for the game align perfectly with the values of our organization. We look forward to the energy and direction he will bring, along with the memories that will be made, as we focus on the future of Giants baseball.
Buster Posey
