New Giants manager Tony Vitello excited to add to team’s ‘history and tradition’ | NBCS Bay Area

New Giants manager Tony Vitello excited to add to team’s ‘history and tradition’ | NBCS Bay Area

All right, Tony Vitell, we’ve had some fun around here with all the Tennessee players that Buster has added over the last year. I just want to take you back though to like the trade deadline, the draft. How much did the Giants start to get on your radar with all the Tennessee guys who were in here? You know, I I think it’s, you know, right now something really cool to cheer for is you want to see players develop and you want to see them achieve certain things. And so to see guys in this early stage that we coached at Tennessee like Drew, you know, marching his way towards what those goals of being an everyday player out here are has been fun. And then there’s other guys you’re rooting for and also trying to help that are still trying to strive to be big leaguers and there’s, you know, several in the organization now. I imagine it’s been a crash course the last three weeks, the last week especially, maybe learning more about the Giants. What what’s stood out to you in all the research you have done throughout this process? I I think the history and the tradition. I mean, baseball is a sport that involves tradition and past numbers and accomplishments more than any. Um, and I’m not so sure the Giants don’t have the best reputation or history of people in particular, whether it be players or managers as any organization in Major League Baseball. Couple things you mentioned during your press conference. You were at game seven in 2014. You mentioned Alex Gordon. What was that experience like for you? I mean, that was a long time ago. That was pre- Tennessee. Yeah, it was intense. Um just when you’re at a game like that where everything is on the line and now I’ve been fortunate enough to be at several of those um it gives you a sense of how important every play is, every aspect of the game. And if you think about it in coach’s terms, it can stress you out. Uh it probably accentuates the fact you need to prepare for moments like that, envision moments like that. And a good way to do it is as a fan being there witnessing it. Um, but yeah, that was that was a special moment for the Giants and one in which, you know, Mad Bomb got my admiration forever for what he did in the entirety of that series. You mentioned a former player or somebody you knew knew Hunter Pence and told you about him and his intensity. You’re known for your energy. Could you tell us who that was and maybe what you heard about Hunter? Yeah, it was Ryan Lawless and um the first time I was ever on a field for BA big league batting practice was when Ryan made his debut or it was his first day with the Giants and it was at Bush Stadium, my home city of St. Louis and went down there and just was quizzing him about the organization and what I had heard the reputation was and he affirmed that it’s kind of a family deal um as soon as you walk through the door and then he just talked about how Hunter was the leading guy in the clubhouse that making sure everyone feels welcome, knows what’s expected, uh make sure they feel comfortable and that’s something that kids remember for a lifetime. even if they grow up to be a an allstar and a big leager till they’re 40 years old, they’ll remember those things when they were making their climb towards the big leagues or their first few days in it. Looking forward, you inherit a roster full of veterans, full of guys who are kind of in win now mode. As you’ve been thinking about next season already, I want to take you into next season. What stands out to you about this roster as a as a strength and and what do you look at it as maybe a key thing to get this off season? Yeah, I think bullpen is something that it’s funny coming from college, every pitcher wants to be a starting pitcher, but anyone who knows the game of baseball, bullpen is crucial. Um, there’s several closers here that, you know, probably it doesn’t go as well as it does in the postseason here without that final guy finishing, but there’s also a variety of guys, too, either on those teams or winning teams that just fill a role in the bullpen. And so I think an area everyone wants to, you know, feel good about or, you know, have full confidence in is just the pitching staff from top to bottom. Uh, but again, you win as lose as a team. So we’ll look at any area too position player wise that can improve. But with that said, the position player group is is pretty dang good right now. And and obviously there’s some stars on the pitching staff as well. Obviously, Drew Gilbert comes becomes a national story um while he was here the last two months, but this was really a group that was close-knit throughout even before that. And I think we saw it mostly when Drew was here. What have you thought just maybe in conversations? You said some players had reached out about the core and maybe the chemistry they have already and the energy they have already. Yeah, I think the guys all have a high level of care and emotion, and it it sounds like um e even more so now that I’ve been in the building, it was a very close-knit team. And those other guys are playing with just as much emotion, they just don’t show it the way Drew does. And sometimes if a guy is holding on to um you know what he wants to do or his passion for the game and you see a guy like Drew be so outward with it, it’s a good reminder and encouragement to be who you are and and let that shine through. But I think as a whole, the entire group was playing the way Drew was. They wanted to win. Um it just didn’t click quite as well as it it maybe could have or they wanted it to. Uh, but I think one key to unlocking that is having that energy and that passion every single day. I talked to Drew last week and he said one reason he went to Tennessee was you and your coaches told him you get what you earn. You don’t come in here and be the Friday night guy or the center fielder. How do you hold big leaguers accountable and maybe guys who have been doing this for 10 12 years or allstar sai young type guys? I think a lot of it is educating them on the front end um for what you’re looking for what expectations are and and how communication will go back and forth so that there’s no surprises. Um someone that’s been doing something for so long and doing it well doesn’t want to be surprised especially if it’s coming from a negative side of things. So, I think the communication and the call it education or just being informative informative on the front end is so key so that when things happen in the heat of the moment, we talked about game seven. Um, everybody’s in a position to remain poised and understand that everyone is doing everything in the interest of the team having success. A specific coaching thing, one thing we talk about every offseason with Buster, his predecessors, is getting better on the basis, getting better defensively. Those were two things again this year that the team you’re inheriting struggled with a little bit. What do you think just going forward about how you can make this team a little bit tighter defensively and maybe a little more aggressive uh running the bases? You’re kind of seeing it in the World Series right now how that can be successful, right? No, I think taking pride in it is huge and you mentioned there’s examples to fall back on in spring training. Let’s be honest, I haven’t been a part of it. Um, but it it may not be the easiest to beat the theme of base running, you know, X’s and O’s every single day, but if you can remind guys with in the future, if you are in the postseason or you’re in a game that can determine whether or not you make it to the postseason, it very well could be base running that you know that it comes down to. And then defense as well has been something these guys have repeated over and over again. They want to get better at. You know, um, day one on the job, I guess now this is official day one. Uh, but I do think no matter what you want to be good at, if you take pride in it, you will be good at it. Um, so I think it’ll start with the coaching staff. Uh, but it’s going to have to bleed into the players as well and and that’ll be our responsibility is to get guys to take pride in certain aspects of the game like the ones you mentioned. I heard you might have gone to see your guy Sherzer in the World Series earlier this week. Is that true? I did. So if I seemed exhausted at all or I was going to say that game went it was there. We were there for for every inning. And it’s interesting how the game works out. Um the Dodgers come out victorious, but who knows? Maybe the script is flipped for whatever reason if if the Blue Jays are the ones that win the marathon. Um you know, but have other guys in positions where they’re maybe fatigued or or things like that. But it it’s it’s always fun to see those games and be in them, but now it’s kind of an educational thing. You stayed all 18. I did. Impressive. Impressive. Uh you know, you were asked about the Dodgers during the press conference. the two teams at the top of this division, the Dodgers and the Padres’s. Giants really struggled against them last year. How much do you kind of relish that challenge of going up against them? And also, I’m sure you had some huge rivalries in college baseball. I mean, how much appreciation do you have or a sense of of what Giants Dodgers means to this fan base? Yeah, I know just from history of being here and and being at games and and again having players tied to the organization, what those particular rivalries mean. Um it’s it’s very similar to where I grew up in St. Louis, the Cardinals and the Cubs. It’s the same thing but a different version. Uh so well verssed at it, but as you mentioned in the SEC um and even around us, you got these different rivalries. But I think you got to be too careful to put too much stress or attention to just one thing because uh if you’re not looking over your shoulder, you’re not looking ahead. you know, you got to be kind of have your head on a swivel because every opponent is dangerous and then every game you play is an opportunity to win regardless of who it’s against. I’ll finish with this. We’re getting to know you Giants fans are getting to know you here. We know you’re obsessive about baseball. We know you’re a very hard worker with baseball, but let’s say it’s a Friday night in January. You don’t have to worry about baseball right now. Maybe taking a night off. What do you do for fun? What are you doing in the city? I like music. Big big music guy for sure. Um and of all varieties. And then because my dad is a good cook, I mentioned that during um the presser, uh I’m kind of a food foodie. I don’t want to say food snob, that’ll make me sound good or sound bad, but uh definitely a foodie for sure. All right, we’ll give you some restaurant recommendations. Congratulations and welcome to San Francisco. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Tony Vitello speaks to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic in an exclusive interview about his decision to become manager of the San Francisco Giants.

#TonyVitello #Vitello #BusterPosey #ZackMinasian #Giants #GiantsTalk #SanFranciscoGiants #SanFrancisco #TennesseeBaseball #MLB #NBCSportsBayArea #Subscribe #Like #Comment

CONNECT:
✔️ Subscribe to NBC Sports Bay Area & California: bit.ly/3AQknYc
✔️ Subscribe to our podcasts: https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/podcasts
✔️ Stream the games at:
➡️ https://nbcsports.app.link/san_francisco_giants_stream
➡️ https://nbcsports.app.link/oakland_athletics_stream
➡️ https://nbcsports.app.link/golden_state_warriors_stream
➡️ https://nbcsports.app.link/sacramento_kings_stream
➡️ https://nbcsports.app.link/san_jose_sharks_stream
➡️ https://nbcsports.app.link/san_francisco_49ers_stream

NBC Sports Bay Area & California on social media:
► Our website: https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/
► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nbcsauthentic/
► Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NBCSAuthentic/
► Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NBCSAuthentic
► Follow us on Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nbcsportsauthentic?lang=en

The official YouTube page of NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California. Home of the Warriors, Kings, Giants, A’s, 49ers, Sharks, Valkyries and Bay FC. We connect fans with the teams they love.