I expect that by the time you read this yarn, you will know everything there might be to know about one Tony Vitello. He of course is the shiny new manager of your San Francisco Giants.
I spent most of the day Wednesday trying to figure out if I thought this first major hiring by Buster Posey was a great innovative idea or something that came to him in a dream following a rollicking evening in a hookah bar. Knowing Buster, it’s the former.
And right here, on day three of the reign of Tony Vitello, I’m ridin’ with Buster.
There are a couple of things about the new skipper of the Giants that seem to rear up in whatever conversation you might have about Vitello. The first is that he’s a cheerleader kind of guy with fire in his belly and an intense desire to win. So far in his coaching career, that has translated to his players in a positive way.
The other things that creep into most conversations about the man are that he’s self-assured to the point of arrogance — and unapologetic about it.
His strength, and the reason he’s here, is player development. And any conversation with Buster Posey begins — and sometimes ends — with the fact that the Giants have been abject failures in developing major league players in their own system. Players come out of the minor leagues into the Giants’ clubhouse, and never improve. Historically, it’s not the job of the major league manager to be a teacher. But, that’s what Tony Vitello is and that’s where his success lies.
I’m going to take a wild guess here and say that Vitello is smart enough to ingratiate himself to guys like Matt Chapman, Rafi Devers, Tony Adames and Logan Webb — give them a hearty slap on the back and tell them to “go out there and do what you do.” But virtually everyone else on this roster would benefit greatly from a “here’s what you’re not doing,” speech from a great teacher. I’m certain that’s what Buster Posey sees in hiring this guy.
There was a quote from Vitello that I’m guessing might have turned the head of the Giants’ Director of Baseball Ops to begin with. In regard to players coming to the major leagues half baked, Vitello said, “Everyone is suffering the consequences all the way to the big leagues. Less development, less coaching, less accountability, and less understanding of how to actually play the game and win.”
Max Scherzer, a likely future Hall of Fame pitcher is one of Vitello’s biggest supporters. Vitello tutored him during his coaching stint at the University of Missouri and Scherzer credits him with being a huge influence in the success of his career. “It’s the competitiveness, the fire and intensity and his communication skills. He relates to the players,” says Scherzer.
What’s left to find out? Can he do it with a mixed bag of veterans and youngsters. Will the old guys buy in? Will the young guys listen? Can the college rah-rah stuff light a fire in the Giants’ clubhouse or will it cause a division?
An old baseball adage is that “respect isn’t granted by resume. It’s earned daily in a clubhouse filled with men who have spent years or decades in the game,” The task that lies in front of Tony Vitello is knowing when to teach and knowing when to be taught.
To say that Tony Vitello was popular in Knoxville, Tennessee is an understatement. The pantheon of great baseball coaches in that state could have been viewed in a phone booth. There was Tony Vitello and … I don’t know, did Jack Daniels play baseball?
Mind you, I’m not suggesting that Vitello played in a jug band and drank moonshine before heading west. He was raised in St. Louis and his dad was a high school soccer and baseball coach with a passel of championship banners. In fact, Lil’ Tony coached a year just down the road a bit in the valley with the Salinas Packers of the California Collegiate League back in 2002. And, oh by the way, the Packers were 50-14 that year.
The folks in Knoxville so loved their baseball coach that some Vol supporters created fake Giants fan accounts, flooding social media with negative comments about Vitello in hopes that the Giants wouldn’t hire him.
So, here comes Tony Vitello, the new manager of the San Francisco Giants and toting along all the baggage that goes with being the first manager never to have played, or held any coaching position at the major league level.
Pat Murphy is, of course, the most recent example of a guy who came out of the college ranks at Notre Dame and Arizona State to professional baseball and made it all work. He did, however serve eight years as an MLB bench coach with the team he’s led to the playoffs two straight years.
Dick Howser was a big success as Yankees’ manager after being hired out of Florida State, but he’d spent 10 years on the Yankees coaching staff before heading to the college ranks.
And Bobby Winkles went from great success at Arizona State to not so great success with the California Angels. But, not directly — he spent a year on the coaching staff before becoming manager.
Tony Vitello never played in the major leagues, never coached in the major leagues and yet comes to San Francisco with credentials that speak to the modern game of baseball.
Buster Posey is in the midst of a crap shoot. He’s rolling the dice on the fact that baseball needs some new ideas and a new approach to a game that is somewhat bogged down in its own history.
For me, I’m playing the “come” line, hoping Buster rolls a seven or eleven.
Barry Tompkins is a 40-year network television sportscaster and a San Francisco native. Email him at barrytompkins1@gmail.com.