The MLB Manager Who Has Never Been Anywhere Near Pro Baseball
November 25, 2025
The MLB Manager Who Has Never Been Anywhere Near Pro Baseball
25 comments
Title is a little (seemingly intentionally) misleading.
Tony Vitello was the head coach for University of Tennessee for 8 years. He has baseball coaching experience.
I’m so over this discussion. Could he be great? Idk. Could he be a disaster? Idk. Do I believe in merit? Absolutely. Why are we acting like coaching an SEC team at a high level isn’t baseball experience? Sure it’ll be different but let’s see how it goes.
The San Francisco Giants have tapped Tony Vitello to be their next manager.
The move was entirely without precedent. Never before had someone jumped directly from college baseball to leading a major-league dugout. Until now, the 47-year-old Vitello had never, in any capacity, earned a paycheck from a professional baseball organization. Not as a player, coach, or scout—not even an intern.
Across MLB, Vitello’s arrival has largely been met with a mix of surprise and curiosity. One former manager, Joe Maddon, described the hire as “insulting” to those paying their dues in the minors.
On the college scene, however, Vitello’s ascension has represented something else: validation.
I played LF and 2B back in little league, so I haven’t been anywhere near pro baseball either.
Sounds like I’ll be managing next year
I would trade Dan Wilson straight up for Vitello.
I played a lot of MLB the Show
Will either be a genius move or the worst decision ever made in baseball
Would people be upset if Cliff Gustafson or Augie Garrido had jumped from coaching UT to manage an MLB club back in the day?
Coach Gus had 1400+ wins and Augie had almost 2000 wins. It’s not like college coaches never coached.
WSJ is a little late on this story.
If you can’t have a 500M payroll to go up against the 500M payroll in your division, then you better get fucking creative. This is the Giants being creative. You’re going to have to beat them with small ball, hit and runs, and all the vibes you can get. That riles up the home fans. We’ll need that 10th man/person.
“Guns Germs and Steel” Jared Diamond? “Collapse” Jared Diamond?
Also, both the Brewers and Jays have proven that you be VERY successful- even dominant- playing small ball, so perhaps having a “three true outcomes” driven guy might not be the best strategy in 2026.
This guy has a lot of baseball knowledge lol.
Worked great for Nico Harrison
It’s not uncommon for college coaches to jump to the pros in basketball and football. Just because it’s unprecedented in baseball doesn’t mean it’s a crazy idea.
This is the literal issue with the American workforce. “I can’t hire you because you don’t have experience”, how the hell is someone supposed to get the experienced then?
It’s nice to have a new face. Im so sick and tired of the same old, old men, safe choices that don’t produce.
Why not? I mean we are electing presidents nowadays with no experience running a government. May as well see how bad he can screw u…I mean lead the team? /S
Give him a shot. Buster needs to rob the bank and get some pitchers
On one hand, I’m guessing this guy knows the game as well as anybody else. My *guess* is that MLB guys are a bit less coachable and that managing a team for 162 games + is going to feel pretty different, especially for somebody who’s never done that as a player, a coach, or a manager.
Can we have him back, then? -Tennessee
This “no experience” thing is so overblown.
Probably better than Dave Roberts
A lot of people are making the comparison of college football coaches going to the NFL. NCAA D1 football programs at the competitive schools are at least comparable to NFL teams in terms of the pressures of the job, the budget and resources, the talent pool you’re managing, and the consequences of winning and losing.
Unfortunately college baseball is not comparable to the MLB. College football in the USA effectively acts as the minor league feeder system to the NFL, so it makes perfect sense to have a college football coach in the NFL and that’s why you see coaches go from the NFL to the NCAA as well. It’s not necessarily a demotion, especially financially.
Idk I wish this guy success but I don’t see how it’s going to work out. You gotta be able to manage personalities and have some level of mutual respect to do well as an MLB skipper, it’s not just baseball acumen.
25 comments
Title is a little (seemingly intentionally) misleading.
Tony Vitello was the head coach for University of Tennessee for 8 years. He has baseball coaching experience.
I’m so over this discussion. Could he be great? Idk. Could he be a disaster? Idk. Do I believe in merit? Absolutely. Why are we acting like coaching an SEC team at a high level isn’t baseball experience? Sure it’ll be different but let’s see how it goes.
The San Francisco Giants have tapped Tony Vitello to be their next manager.
The move was entirely without precedent. Never before had someone jumped directly from college baseball to leading a major-league dugout. Until now, the 47-year-old Vitello had never, in any capacity, earned a paycheck from a professional baseball organization. Not as a player, coach, or scout—not even an intern.
Across MLB, Vitello’s arrival has largely been met with a mix of surprise and curiosity. One former manager, Joe Maddon, described the hire as “insulting” to those paying their dues in the minors.
On the college scene, however, Vitello’s ascension has represented something else: validation.
Read more (unpaywalled link): [https://www.wsj.com/sports/baseball/tony-vitello-san-francisco-giants-tennessee-10f9aae8?st=Vq7FKw&mod=wsjreddit](https://www.wsj.com/sports/baseball/tony-vitello-san-francisco-giants-tennessee-10f9aae8?st=Vq7FKw&mod=wsjreddit)
I played LF and 2B back in little league, so I haven’t been anywhere near pro baseball either.
Sounds like I’ll be managing next year
I would trade Dan Wilson straight up for Vitello.
I played a lot of MLB the Show
Will either be a genius move or the worst decision ever made in baseball
Would people be upset if Cliff Gustafson or Augie Garrido had jumped from coaching UT to manage an MLB club back in the day?
Coach Gus had 1400+ wins and Augie had almost 2000 wins. It’s not like college coaches never coached.
WSJ is a little late on this story.
If you can’t have a 500M payroll to go up against the 500M payroll in your division, then you better get fucking creative. This is the Giants being creative. You’re going to have to beat them with small ball, hit and runs, and all the vibes you can get. That riles up the home fans. We’ll need that 10th man/person.
How is someone supposed to get experience
https://preview.redd.it/ovt4gq9wsf3g1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ee196ecfb09eb3f5b0462ad7357d91e6ddac5cfa
I guess their GM finally watched Ted Lasso
Jared Diamond wrote that?
“Guns Germs and Steel” Jared Diamond? “Collapse” Jared Diamond?
Also, both the Brewers and Jays have proven that you be VERY successful- even dominant- playing small ball, so perhaps having a “three true outcomes” driven guy might not be the best strategy in 2026.
This guy has a lot of baseball knowledge lol.
Worked great for Nico Harrison
It’s not uncommon for college coaches to jump to the pros in basketball and football. Just because it’s unprecedented in baseball doesn’t mean it’s a crazy idea.
This is the literal issue with the American workforce. “I can’t hire you because you don’t have experience”, how the hell is someone supposed to get the experienced then?
It’s nice to have a new face. Im so sick and tired of the same old, old men, safe choices that don’t produce.
Why not? I mean we are electing presidents nowadays with no experience running a government. May as well see how bad he can screw u…I mean lead the team? /S
Give him a shot. Buster needs to rob the bank and get some pitchers
On one hand, I’m guessing this guy knows the game as well as anybody else. My *guess* is that MLB guys are a bit less coachable and that managing a team for 162 games + is going to feel pretty different, especially for somebody who’s never done that as a player, a coach, or a manager.
Can we have him back, then? -Tennessee
This “no experience” thing is so overblown.
Probably better than Dave Roberts
A lot of people are making the comparison of college football coaches going to the NFL. NCAA D1 football programs at the competitive schools are at least comparable to NFL teams in terms of the pressures of the job, the budget and resources, the talent pool you’re managing, and the consequences of winning and losing.
Unfortunately college baseball is not comparable to the MLB. College football in the USA effectively acts as the minor league feeder system to the NFL, so it makes perfect sense to have a college football coach in the NFL and that’s why you see coaches go from the NFL to the NCAA as well. It’s not necessarily a demotion, especially financially.
Idk I wish this guy success but I don’t see how it’s going to work out. You gotta be able to manage personalities and have some level of mutual respect to do well as an MLB skipper, it’s not just baseball acumen.