San Francisco Giants Introduce Tony Vitello | Live Press Conference

San Francisco Giants Introduce Tony Vitello | Live Press Conference

Check. Okay. [Music] Happy birthday. I got this Mr. Big Hallelujah. Hello. I love you. All right. Good morning everyone. My name is Matt Chisum. I’m the vice president of media relations for the Giants. Uh I’m honored to be with you here on this very special day. I’d like to welcome everyone with us here at Oracle Park, as well as those watching on sfgiants.com, sfigantes.com, the Giants YouTube channel, NBC Sportsbay area, and those listening on K&BR. Last week, the Giants officially announced that Tony Vitello has been named the 40th manager in Giants history. Tony, welcome to San Francisco. Thank you. It’s a privilege to have you. Let’s take it. It’s a privilege to have you, your parents, Greg and Kathleen, your sisters, Christine, Cara, and Katie, your brother-in-law, Rich, your nieces and nephew, and other members of your family and friends here today. Also with us today on the Deis is Giants President Baseball operations Buster Posey and Giants general manager Zack Manassian. I’d also like to recognize in attendance Giants chairman Greg Johnson, Giants president Larry Bear, and members of the Giants front office that are here today. Also, we have the three Kyper brothers. I would like to acknowledge Jeff, Dwayne, and Glenn are here today. Welcome you guys. And now, it’s my pleasure to turn things over to Buster Posie. Thanks, Matt. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for being here today. Uh today is a very exciting day for our organization as we welcome Tony as the new manager of the San Francisco Giants. You know, when we first started talking to Tony, it was uh abundantly clear that he was a natural leader. um you know wide range of topics and I think some some highlights that I came away with from those conversations were you know some of his vision uh his conciseness and and plenty of other leadership qualities. I think where it really took off for me is when you start making phone calls and you talk to so many different people that have come into contact with him for years and years and been in his world. Um, and you start to hear some of the attributes and and conversely Tony had a lot of conversations with people in our own organization and the feedback was all the same. Um, you know, it was the response was this guy’s a winner. um he’s he has a vision to to be great and not just for himself that that that’s going to uh rub off on those around him. There’s an expectation that that he’ll get the best um from everybody that he comes into contact with. You know, Tonyy’s a teacher. He’s a motivator, uh tireless worker, and someone who understands how to build culture. We believe his leadership is not only going to uh impact our clubhouse, but it’s also going to impact our organization and our entire uh fan base as well. Thrilled to have Tony as our manager. Um high confidence that together we can build something really special here in San Francisco. And so now it’s my pleasure to introduce Tony Vitello as the next manager of the San Francisco Giants. Thank you, sir. We going to mess up that here. I think we should a little more comfortable. [Applause] Tony. Yeah. Um, obviously thank you to Buster, uh, to Zach, to Greg Johnson, uh, Larry. Um, all the ownership really all the organization and I know players feedback was important. Um, that’s kind of where my whole deal has started is with players. uh Gavin Keelin, who some of you may know was uh fortunate enough to be a first round pick here. And that’s where some of those conversations uh exist between the college level and the pro level. Um and obviously something all those players are aspiring aspiring to do is make it to the big leagues. And as this process has gone on, it’s been funny. I’ve gotten a lot of text messages about living out your dream or somebody said um you know when you have baseball cards when you’re little little which I still have some um I don’t know if they’re worth anything or not but um you know did you dream or you dreamed of being this I I never dreamed of being a major league baseball player. I I don’t know why my skill level wasn’t very high. I think it was just so far above the clouds um that I never even saw it. And for me as a coach I was just kind of trying to make my way. I got thrust into a position at a young age that I probably didn’t even deserve. Um, so I was just trying to do a good job and fortunately it it helped get me to the next spot and the next spot and the next spot and eventually this did become a dream uh where I just kind of decided if it was you know if I was blessed enough to receive an opportunity this is something I wanted to do before I was done coaching you know in general. and now I’m incredibly humbled uh and blessed to do so. So, it is a a a dream come true, but it’s it’s a very recent dream. It wasn’t one I had for a while. And as much as I’d love to sit up here and promise things and pound my fist on the desk and all that to really alls I want to do is a good job. And I think um because of being around my dad and being blessed around winning players similar to Buster, uh those standards are very high. And I have spent some I know it’ll be a question later. I have some spent some time around this organization either as a fan or just watching or again through business ways. I’m fully aware of the tradition that’s here and the excellence that’s been brought um by managers like Bochi, Dusty Baker, um the toughness from guys like Bombgardner and and Romo. the loyalty, which is incredibly important, uh, you know, word to me and my family, which is epitomized by the guy to my right. Um, and you know, the records that have been set by guy, guys like Bonds and Maize and Lindum and everybody else. And then, you know, the one thing that always got to me was the the family, the sense of family that was a part of this organization. And one of the players I coached came up during Hunter Pence’s playing days and just talked about how good that guy was to everybody in the organization, especially younger aspiring players and rookies. Um, so there’s a there’s a lot to learn from from the past and there is very high expectations, very high standards to meet because of the past and u this is a challenge that’s been presented to me and um again I’m humbled and honored to be here in front of you today to take on that challenge. Okay, thanks Tony. Um with that we will open it up to questions for the media. Uh I just ask if you have a question please state your name and affiliation. Let’s go right here to John Sheay. Hello, Tony. Welcome to the Bay. Thank you. Now, you’ve coached college. You haven’t played, coached, or managed in the big leagues, 56 games versus 162 plus spring training and whatever happens in October. But Buster and Tony, have you talked about how different this will be in terms, we’ve seen how emotional and passionate you are at the college level. Can you transfer that to this 162 game grind or will we have to tone it down a little bit? What What’s the conversation between you two on that front? I think if you ask my mom, she’d want me to tone it down, but if you ask my dad, he’d say kick it up a notch, you know? Um I I think it it is it is completely different. There’s obviously we didn’t waste any time. We got to the first question that that everybody was maybe thinking and should ask and it is very different. Um so I I think the one thing about each game unto itself whether it’s high school, college or pro is it’s kind of got its own personality, its own flavor and you have to adapt to that particular day. especially in our sport. I mean, the one common theme that I always, you know, when I first started coaching that I didn’t like is when you win or or I’m sorry, you lose, you know, 9 to6, it’s the pitching let us down. Um, and then when you you lose three to two, it’s, you know, pitchers did their job, but the hitters didn’t hit. You win and lose as a team, and every game for whatever reason kind of has its own vibe to it. And I feel every day is like that, too. And whether it’s 162, 56 or whatever, baseball is a sport that is built on sample size and you have to be willing to separate each one as a mutually exclusive one and attack it for what it is at that particular time. So, um I wish I had a answer in my own head to be honest with you because um as I first got here I was like man there are a lot of unknowns and and just a lot of wonder in my mind and of course you can ask people and and draw on previous information uh but until you live it out you don’t know what it’s going to be like. Sorry Matt John Shay San Francisco Standard. Sorry about that. And just one more. Um, Buster, when when when Gabe Kapler was here, it seems like there was a massive collaboration on how the in-game game planning and strategizing was was going to come down, whether it’s the bullpen moves or the lineups or anything like that. Maybe not so much with Bob Melvin. What’s it going to be like now? How much will the front office be involved in the analytics department and scouting everything else with the gametoame with the day-to-day planning including in-game uh strategizing? I mean I think it I think it remains to be seen. Some of it’ll just evolve naturally as as we spend more time around each other and and the staff is built out. Um you know the way I I look at our role is um we’re we’re evaluating we’re evaluating so many different departments across the organization. Um, but as much as anything, the the way I see us as a support system to get Tony and his staff information, we can be a sounding board. We can be think partners as well. Um, as as Tony mentioned, you know, from my experience, any great team um that I’ve been a part of, people are pulling in the same direction. And that’s the uh that’s the that’s the hope and the expectation here is, you know, we’re all going to be working together. Does that mean that we’re going to have uh perfect harmony all the time? No. I mean, it doesn’t. But there’s going to be things that we we all continue to learn and grow together as we go through this. Over here on the right, Mark. Hey, Tony. Mark Willard, 957 the game. Just kind of building on your previous answer, kind of personto person, I wonder if you have any concerns with the idea of kind of the the energy that you would use for a college player. like does that work for someone who might be in their 30s and has you know kids at home? Like do you have to from that level kind of adjust your style or or how will you go about kind of addressing that? Yeah, I I think one thing we did well at the places I’ve been in particular Tennessee was coach guys as individuals. Um, you know, I’ve always used the example in recruiting, you turn on a TV, uh, and watch a big league game, whether it’s last night or, you know, you’re watching the Giants play the Padres’s, you’re going to see nine different stances, four or five different deliveries and things like that. So, um, it’s not an exact parallel, but just kind of use an example of it’s got to be individualistic. I mean, some of these guys are, you know, guys that I’ve recruited and, you know, I don’t know what the punishment running is, but Bryce said no to Tennessee when I was there. So, we we we’ll have a a separate conversation, but no, he he’s a great kid, but he’s to be honest with you, he’s exactly what I just got done doing a week ago. Um, and then you, you know, climb the ladder and you get to a guy like Justin Verlander or a Max Scherzer or somebody like that, I think those conversations are completely different. So, um, it’s an easy answer to say it’s individualistic because it’s kind of vague, but that’s truly what it is. And then falling back on my my other answer, I do think you got to come to the office and vibe it out. I think some of those conversations are a lot easier when things are going good. Um, and when they’re not. Um, you know, Buster just kind of got done commenting on we’ll all work together. Um, the whole goal is to create a bond here between everybody at the top all the way down to whatever you consider, you know, the bottom of the depth chart and all have a bond strong enough that when Alex Gordon hits a triple, everybody’s still on the same page and and willing to get through that moment and come out victorious. I was at that game, by the way, behind home plate. It was rather intense. Correct. Uh, yeah, I’ll second that. It was Let’s go right here to the right. Hi Tony. Justice de Santos San Jose Mercury News. Question for Buster as well as Zack. Uh when did the idea of first considering Tony come to mind? And following that first consideration, how did process of wanting to interview him, get to know him more? How did that process evolve? And kind of for Zach as well, like first question. Yeah. Well, I I’ll give I’ll start because I’ll give Zach credit. He was the one who who first had the thought. Um I think that’s credit, right? Yeah. Um but no, it’s uh so I don’t remember the ex exact time, but you know, once the the season was over, um you know, started having conversations pretty casual to start with. Um, a unique thing about this uh, process was, and it’s one thing that I’ve I’ve come to really appreciate about Tony and and honestly made me feel more confident um, in this decision is this guy was a he was hard to get a hold of because he was on the field all the time or he was bouncing from city to city recruiting and just because this was on his plate, um, he was still full go with what his job was at Tennessee. and I have a tremendous amount of respect for that. I wish it was easier to get in contact you with you during those times sometimes. Um but it’s uh so yeah, that’s a little bit of how it played out. And Zach, you you feel free to add on to that. Yeah, I would just say as much as this feels out of the box, Tony’s name has been bouncing around Major League Baseball for a while. um fortunate to sit in the draft room and Tennessee’s program has been topnotch, which means there’s a lot of good players that we’re talking about year in and year out. I’ve been fortunate to go watch them and I think just the nature of this job is you’re always evaluating everything. um not necessarily sitting here three years ago watching Tennessee play and Gilbert in center field and Dolander pitching saying one day we’re going to hire Tony as a manager but you get a sense of how he goes about it his passion his intellect his care I mean he talks a lot about family and those are things that we talk about but I think starting the process you really want to try and build as big a list as you can there’s a lot of talented people out there and as we started to go through it and started to go through it I felt like we kept coming back to this one would be really interesting and it just got even more and more interesting as we continued to speak. Let’s go Brian. Hi Tony. Brian Murphy from KMBBR. We’re the Giants flagship. We carry all the stations. Welcome to San Francisco. Thank you. Um so baseball, this is the hard question. Baseball’s a dues paying culture. They say if you didn’t ride the bus and the minors, you can’t get to the show. So you haven’t. So, I’m wondering, have you reached out to those veterans, the Willie Adames, the Matt Chapman, the Rafy Devers to sus them out and earn their credibility or respect? Uh, more just touch and base and pretty cool that some of those guys beat me to the punch and and reached out to me first, but just some casual going back and forth. And I think we all want the same thing. It’s to win and um, you know, that’s where the conversations have started to this point. I I think it’s um, you know, normally it’s recruiting in college. you’re going to see people face to face. I think it’s good that there’s some time between now and spring training for me to maybe go out and wouldn’t be able to do it with the whole roster, but but do spend some time face to face with those guys. Um, and you know, earn their trust or um, you know, their respect in a different way because I can’t go back in time and you know, be a switch hitter or you know, be a be a catcher or anything like that. So, um, but I am very sensitive with all due respect to the phrase pay your dues because, um, like the other coaches in our league and across the country, Yavich is, you know, Cliff Godwin is the coach at East Carolina. He reached out last night because Max and Yavich are are embracing it. It’s a lot of lonely nights in a hotel and it’s a lot of phone calls and it’s a lot of text messages. It’s hearing no just as much as maybe an insurance salesman or or whoever else or maybe a reporter looking for an interview that hears a no. Um so dues have come in a different way and um you know hopefully respect will be earned uh you know in different ways and the only way I know how to do that is through hard work. Let’s go to the left. Maria, hi Tony. Maria Bardadov.com. Um it seems like you’re really kind of agonized over the decision to leave Tennessee. just but ultimately convinced you to take this opportunity with the Giants. Yeah, thanks for revisiting that. Um, you know, it’s relationships is kind of um I I don’t have a bread and butter and to be honest with you, you know, just mention work ethic. You know, on the field I joke I mean I had decent skills and I don’t know that I have many skills to offer um in baseball and sorry if that lowers expectations around here. I think for whatever reason I clicked on pitching a little bit when scouting. Maybe a few guys maybe hit the nail on the head there, but I’ve just tried to work hard and I think no matter what field it is, probably um everyone here knows from the media, it’s it’s not easy. It’s hard work. You all have a job to do, too. And the harder you work, the more you have success and the more you also figure out what doesn’t work and and trial and error and things like that. So, uh, that’s a long leadin to a lot of relationships and a lot of work were put into that. It’s a phenomenal place to live, work like here. The one similarity I saw is the fan base is arguably the best in the country for who they are and you end up creating a bond. If you do put in the work uh with those people where there’s a reciprocation uh for everything you give to them, you get back um you know, I don’t know what number you want to attach to it, but you get back. And then um I I started my you know, rambling at the beginning by talking about players. I owe everything to the coaches that have given me opportunities like Tim Jameson who I played for and he gave me my first coaching job, but more to the players that have competed the way they have when I’ve been fortunate enough to be in the dugout. And then you get some credit and those relationships are tough and uh no one wants to see that team go to Omaha more than me that’s in Tennessee. Um but I’ll tell you whose wins I’d enjoy more than Tennessee’s San Francisco Giants. Let’s go. Janie. Hi, Tony. Janie McCauley from Associated Press. Um, you referenced your mom might want you to take things down a notch and and your dad would say, “Let’s let’s ratchet it up here.” Um, what what do you want people to know about your style and maybe the mix of both your parents that that you have that and and maybe how they’ve influenced um how you do your job? Yeah, my my mom’s Irish, so um I I probably you probably picked up on there. There were were days where um you’re a little teary eyed about uh in a different ways, excitement about opportunity and uh relationships and and things like that. And then just overall a bunch of emotions that that come about when when you tie in the whole story. Um my my dad’s Italian and he’s a great cook, but um he was the ultimate competitor and he hated to lose. And I I think a lot of the things that have come out about the teams I’ve been a part of for our coaching staff are just that it was a group that hated to lose and just wanted to do everything we could to put ourselves in a position to win. It doesn’t always work out that way. Um when you show up to a competition, as long as it doesn’t rain, there’s two outcomes that can occur, win or loss. And that that’s something that every competitor when you step into the arena has to realize. Um, and so, um, some of the moments I I guess that I’ll branch off of that is Twitter is not life. And I I know I don’t have an account. I I asked be before even taking the job. I don’t have to get a Twitter, right? And they said no. Um, I realize it’s a part of the job. There’s great information. There’s great entertainment. But one thing that I think is very beneficial to people is to know that Twitter is not life. So you pull a 3-se secondond clip and you see Drew Gilbert doing something in college, you think he’s a maniac and maybe a maniac off the field and you don’t get the full scope of the kid is literally a sweetheart, you know, off the field, but yeah, he’s very competitive on the field. Um, and you know, so that that’s just the one thing I’d say and I had to live it out. I I didn’t look at a lot of the stuff, but I can tell when people say um I’m sure there’s negative stuff, there’s always doubters and why would you do this? Um but the amount of positive feedback I’ve gotten from I was joking about recruiting from kids that I didn’t even coach. I just recruited them or uh opponents in in college baseball or other people in big league baseball. these these other managers that are either retired or still coaching uh reaching out to me um has has blown me away and positivity’s got a lot of power. Let’s go to the right. Shaina. Hi Tony. Welcome. Shaina Rubin with the San Francisco Chronicle. Um there’s a lot that’s been said about the difference between college and and the pros and the learning curve there, but what are some of the elements of college baseball that you think uh the big leagues would benefit from that you want to bring? Um, I think there’s a trade back and forth. Um, off the cuff, I don’t want to say the wrong one. I’m around big league guys up here, but I I I think in college, um, it’s so important to build relationships with these kids because they’re at a vulnerable part in their life where they’re so impressionable and they need to be able to come forward to you with, you know, things that maybe don’t even relate to baseball. um in every all walks of life, any kind of business and we’re in, you know, one of the most innovative and aggressive areas of business in the world really. Um so whether it’s that or with baseball, relationships are so important. And so I I’m sure that’s being done at this level, I just think it’s a different perspective that either I can bring or other coaches can bring. And you know, I’ll also say this, you look at guys like Christian Moore who are almost immediately in the big leagues and and obviously Paul Skins is having success and things like that. I think the two are kind of melting together. And uh trust me, the college base I wouldn’t vote myself to be the pioneer of college baseball, but I think one thing that can come out of this is it be one step further of the two. again kind of melting together and MLB supporting college baseball and doing things for it and college baseball interacting with MLB and seeing how you know those two things can kind of you know call it melt or bridge together I think could be very very beneficial to the game especially since some of the minor league teams have been taken away and also especially since college baseball has risen in popularity so much there is real star power um you know and the fan following has has kind of matched that and some of those guys are, you know, in the big leagues two months after they get drafted. Stay on the right, Scott. Yes. Scott Osler, San Francisco Chronicle. Uh, going back to the question that Justice asked a few minutes ago, how this all started. This is, I guess, for all three of you, but can you give us a little more detail on it? It seems unusual that that a Buster Posey could call a college coach and just say, “Hey, have you ever thought about being a a manager?” I mean, how how’d that first call go? that first very first contact. Well, I think Scott, one of my most uh important responsibilities in this role um is to be able to read a room and read people. Um I don’t always get it right, but I feel like I have a pretty good sense of that. So, you know, there there’s a perception, I think, when you have somebody who you can watch even before you make a phone call of what they may be about um and what their personality might be like. And it doesn’t always perfectly match up, but you do have a good idea going into it. So, I don’t feel like I was going into it blindly, not having an idea of who I was calling. Um and then yeah, just as I mentioned to Justice, you know, it it just kind of over time more conversations, Tony having conversations with people in the organization. Um you know, talking more baseball, talking vision, leadership, um all the attributes that that go into to making a good leader. He he checked all those boxes. And uh you know there’s again like I think with any hire you make there’s going to be a certain level of risk. It doesn’t matter who it is. I mean I would say that’s for for anybody. Um but again my responsibility, Zach’s responsibility and the rest of the front office is to be able to read people and and have a good um I guess I’ll use a front office word projection of who they they may be. Stay on the right. Evan. Hi, Tony. Evan Weebec with the San Jose Mercury News. Um, you said after you took this job that you consider yourself a bowl for life and you hope to return to Tennessee one day. How do how do you expect to go about embracing not just the Giants but San Francisco and the Bay Area and the culture here in the Yeah. Um, I’ve been fortunate enough to experience it before. I mean, we’ve had conversations, so it’s all blending together for me, but I um played and coached in Selenus and um you know, came to several games here. Bill Miller, a former player uh that I don’t know, you might be too young. Do you remember Bill Miller? I know Bill. Yeah. Pretty good teams he was a part of and a pretty good dude there and he took good care of me. So, I was able to see this environment myself. Uh my former college roommate is here, Ryan Picket. He’s one of several people uh that are from this area and are Giants fans that I’m friends with. Um so like Tennessee where you referenced when that job first became available. Um I was busy with with u you know what I was trying to do at at another program at Arkansas and um you know I was like well it’s not who you know or I’m sorry it’s not who you are but who you know. And I was like I don’t know anybody at Tennessee. Well it kind of turned out I did. There’s like seven, eight little connections and it’s been interesting how this has come to be. Obviously, there’s some players in the organization I’m familiar with, but just a lot of random connections and uh again, two summers that were very special to me that I spent in Selenus, California, not too far from here, uh where I was educated on the Giant fan base and the organization itself and also just the people in general and how great of an area this is, you know. Can you tell us just a little bit more about your time in Selenus and the impressions that you came away from, I guess, Northern California with? Yeah, I was in good hands. Uh Deborah Cole is my uh was my host mom those two summers and um people make a place, you know, and the park was fun to go to and we had a good group of uh players and the fans, you know, not quite as big of a crowd as here um were abundant, but it was it was the people there that just made you feel welcome. And being from the Midwest, you’ve got different stereotypes throughout the country on what the vibe is like where you’re from. And in the Midwest, um, home and family and kind of feeling welcoming is very, very important. And that was, uh, very evident from day one. In part again, who who I was staying with and who I was surrounded by, but just in general. And, uh, it’s it’s different up here. It just is. Uh, abnormal may sound like you’re saying weird or in a bad way, but very abnormal the last couple days since I’ve been here. the attention to detail. Um the people at the hotel that have either been tipped off or maybe already I’m like how much did you give these guys to? But I, you know, it’s it’s not random. It’s not coincidental. It’s culture. And again, that’s a also a vague word and one that’s overused a lot, but it’s it’s abnormal here. And I think it’s probably fed into the success of the organization, which has also been abnormal. Let’s go to the back left. Tim. Yeah, Tim Calcom standard. I don’t think I’ve introduced myself to Buster, but to Buster, uh, obviously Tony is not lacking in energy and personality. Uh, I know maybe it wasn’t the single thing you were looking for, but were those factors like either you identified, hey, I’m meeting this guy, this is what we need, or it did you have that kind of circled when the search began? You’d like some energy, you’d like some personality in that clubhouse? Yeah. No, I mean, I don’t think it would be fair to say that that was like the overriding factor that I was looking for. I was looking for somebody that that I felt like shared a similar vision, had uh similar ideals. You’ve heard him talk about people um over and over again up here. Uh to me, that’s that’s your secret sauce in everything. It’s the relationships you build. And so, for me, it was finding somebody that I think we matched up in a lot of those ways. Um and that that we could grow together. You know, the hope is that this is a relationship that lasts a really long time. And you did mention vision and conciseness. I know you don’t pick words randomly. I don’t know if I’m referring to any question he’s already answered, but what can you tell us what what what you mean by concise? I mean, so look, I I think concise comes from my conversations with him over the last few weeks and he’s very uh direct in his thoughts and there’s not a lot of hemming and hawing. he has what he believes. Now, I will say that I think that can be misconstrued to say that he’s not going to be malleable certainly is not how I felt throughout this either. But, uh I think it’s a huge attribute to be able to um take in information and once you get that information, make a decision and stick with it and and you know, you should be able to back up why you were concise in that situation. Sorry, some of my answers haven’t been concise. A lot to share with you. Stay on the left side. Carrie. Uh, hi Tony. Carrie Crowley, San Francisco standard. Have you made any hires for your coaching staff yet? Will you retain anyone? And what qualities do you generally look for when you try to hire people? Yeah, I I think at this point um it’s get to this day and then push forward. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been a ton of conversations prior to and it could be a variety of things. It could be um you know keeping those that are on board and and obviously know the the players well already uh bringing somebody in covering blind spots um just complimenting one another. U but my biggest thing is just for everybody to be on the same page. I think um you know pulling on the same rope is a cliche for a reason and we talked about how long the season is. So it’s important to have a group of guys that are willing to be there through thick and thin. literally is a marriage for the course of the season. So to me, it doesn’t have to be the brightest, the best, the most experienced, or the best resume. It needs to be the guy that’s going to have your back. And he’s also going to have to take either the leap of faith or know that, you know, I or whoever else has their back. And then you kind of get this reciprocal thing we talked about with fan base. Um it’s it’s more important for it to go on with the coaching staff because the players can see it. and they can feel it and they can hear it. And in order for them to do it, you all have to be doing it as a staff as well. And there is nothing more fun than when you got it going on with the staff and the players are doing that. And then there’s the back and forth, too. And u you know, sometimes it’s after a loss, which is crazy for me to say up here, but there’s a feeling the these these guys have been a a part of competitive sports. you can feel when it’s like if I’m, you know, if I’m gonna come back, you know, and bounce back from this, I want to do it with this group. And I believe I can. And then of course, uh, nothing better than celebrating a win, uh, with the people that, you know, you truly want to be around and people that, you know, again, you could count on to help you achieve something like that. Let’s go right here. Right. Hey, Tony. Jack Loer. I’m with KBR. You’re obviously a very competitive guy. How how much did the current landscape of the National League West uh play into your decision and how excited are you about the challenge of taking on rosters like the Dodgers and Padres’s? Yeah, I think you know the bottom line is if you want to win the final game of the season, you’re going to have to beat everybody. You be better than everyone. Um now, not everyone can be on your schedule. Um but just looked at it a little bit in part following the division because of some of the players. You know, the Rockies have three guys that we recently coached. um you know and then uh some ties to to San Diego with a friend of mine who used to manage there and um just just watching in general. I got friends down in the LA area as well. So um not nothing too crazy there. I mean no matter where you go, if you’re striving to, you know, make progress, competition is going to be at a very very high level. And got to be careful too about not getting caught up in what others are doing. um you know the most important people and the most important place is pretty much where we are right now. So well again to me what doing a good job is which I said at the very beginning um centers around you focusing on what we got going on here and doing it as well as we can do it. Okay, let’s take three to four more. Let’s go over here back to Maria. Uh Tony, you’re obviously the son of a coach. Just how has your dad kind of influenced your outlook and your approach to your approach to coaching in general? Um, I I think having principles or values uh that you want to stick to and have conviction to them. Um, you know, I I think one thing that’s that’s key for our players is to go out there and play with conviction. Uh, you know, each pitch of the year, again, long season, that is so much easier said than done. Uh, but when you got a fan base, because we’re in this together now, whether you like me or not, um, I I’ve just I’ve just seen it. it it includes everybody and unfortunately when things get difficult or it doesn’t go the way you’re hoping. Um some people get further apart from the center of the group. Uh but the best groups are no matter how it’s going, people seem to get closer as time goes by or reps pile up or maybe even difficulties or successes pile up. It just is a group that gets together. So whether it’s media, fans, our players, everybody that I’ve met so many people, uh we’re all in this together and I’ve learned that from my dad and you know being a part of you know not a part of him but getting to sit on the bench when I was little and see all the different teams he coached you kind of become well educated in well this isn’t the right thing to do in this situation or this is and um his teams had a knack for peing towards the end of the season and I think that’s piling up lessons learned But more more importantly falling back on that concept of um as things get going um you know difficult or longer or harder then everybody gets closer together. Okay. To the right here. Michael. Yeah. Mike Wilson, Knoxville News Sentinel. This is for Zach and Buster. Zack, earlier you said that this might feel really outside the box, but what are some of the things about Tony that maybe make this less outside the box than it might appear? Well, um I think him having this success that he’s had at Tennessee has drawn a lot of attention to him from the professional side for quite some time. Uh so like I said, when we sit in the draft room, there’s a lot of conversation about what was going on at that university and what Tony in specific was doing with his players. And as you do that and you start to do research on players, ultimately you end up having conversations with staff um from that school, other schools, we have a lot of great people who work in amateur scouting who think the world of Tony. And I think for me personally, not to speak for Buster, you start to get a little bit of a sense of who this person is and what those attributes are and how they could fit into professional baseball. And so when you start lining them up, there is some things that draw strong comparisons to people who have been really successful in the role right out here. Okay, we’re going to take two more. Let’s go right here to Janie. Tony, uh, when you think about working for Buster and Zack, I mean, the fact that that Buster is um still fairly freshly removed from his playing career and all that he did in this game, I mean, how how much comfort is there there? And can you believe that this guy played all nine uh positions in in one game uh his junior year at Florida State? And do you do you remember that and and some of all the things that he did here? I do remember it. We’re both former shorts stops. Uh our careers went a little different uh at at one point, but if I was picking up on what you’re saying, I think maybe we should talk him out a retirement. You said he’s not that far remove he’s kind of moving around all right earlier today. Um but but no, I I think a big X factor in this whole thing was being around somebody like him and um you know to leave where I was at uh was not easy. We kind of touched on that already. Um it had to be a certain set of circumstances that would even be considered. Um and ultimately what this was about just to some personal introspective of two words uh that I had to diagnose are risk and challenge and they both are kind of the same thing but if you talk about risk um you know it kind of sounds like um you could lose it all if if it doesn’t go well. Um, but to me this was more about a challenge and no matter how each day goes and again to beat up the theme I’m very well aware there there’s a higher sample size. So therefore more days uh regardless of how it goes. Are you willing to meet the challenge? And what a challenge is is something that you find out what you can and can’t do. And that’s something that we’ve preached to our players all the time at Tennessee. So who am I to preach that but to not do it? Now, when you head into a challenge, you want a level of confidence. And uh again, there’s so many unknowns. I can’t tell you what that level is for me. Um but the level of the people surrounding me here, whether it’s the roster, which is pretty good, um or the other people in the organization and in particular again the guys sitting to the right of me, the confidence is through the roof. Okay, last one back left. Hi Tony, Andy Bagley with the Athletic. Congratulations and welcome. Um, thank you. You know, one sort of uh cohort of players you haven’t had experience really interfacing with are Latin American players, which make up a huge part of major league rosters. Do you have thoughts about just how you’re going to go about connecting with those players and do you have to have resources on your staff to help you with that? Yeah, I think who makes up the staff is really key. Um and then I think also um just making an effort which which involves work ethic um to meet that that challenge in particular head-on u because again regardless of people’s backgrounds when you’re in a work environment uh you need to get to know who people are and you need to build relationships and you also want to build a trust level there that they’re willing to come to you with certain things. And then, as you all have become familiar with, there’s a lot of key decisions that happen over the course of a game. So, there’s got to be that trust level, too. Uh whether it’s me making the final call or it’s a staff decision to do something, um that individual’s got to trust us. Um so, to have any barriers or obstacles that are in the middle of that trust um is not a good thing and it’s something that’s got to be approached and attacked from day one. And again, that’s probably something in the off season that will be uh, you know, earmarked by not just myself, but everybody to to kind of meet that challenge in particular head on. Okay, with that, that concludes today’s press conference. Thanks again everyone for coming out and Tony, congrats again. Thank you. Thank you.

Live from Oracle Park, new nanager Tony Vitello is formally introduced after joining the San Francisco Giants in a historic move.