Bruce Bochy is back in the Bay area after he was hired to work as a special advisor to baseball operations.
The former Giants manager will now be working with a familiar face — his catcher, Buster Posey, who is now the president of baseball operations. While Bochy likely won’t be involved in the team on a day-to-day basis, it seems likely that at some point he’ll chat with new manager Tony Vitello, the third manager to handle Bochy’s job since he left the organization in 2019.
With Bochy now back and talking to the media, everyone naturally wants his take on the hiiring of Vitello.
Bruce Bochy on Buster Posey’s Big Decision
Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Bochy spoke to some local media after he was named a special advisor to the front office on Monday. While on KNBR’s Murph and Markus Morning Show, he was asked about his former player’s decision to break the mold of a Major League manager and hire Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello last month.
“I love it. A lot of guys, especially starting out, wouldn’t be a risk taker like Buster is,” Bochy said. “But that’s how you win championships. It says a lot about who he is, and that’s part of the reason we won three championships with him catching.”
Vitello has not experience in professional baseball as a player, coach or manager. Posey’s decision to hire him was outside-the-box. Vitello is believed to be the first college baseball head coach to make the leap directly to managing an MLB team without time as an MLB player or coach. But with the Vols, he rebuilt them into one of the best programs in college baseball over eight seasons.
His work reached a zenith in 2024 when he guided Tennessee to 60 wins and the Men’s College World Series championship in 2024. He also took the program to the MCWS in 2021 and 2023. He also led the program to two SEC regular-season and tournament championships.
Naturally, he has a long way to go to catch Bochy, or former Giants manager Dusty Baker for that matter, who also works as a special advisor to baseball operations and has since his retirement in 2023.
Bochy played in the Majors as a catcher but was never an everyday starter. He made his impression on the game as one of the best managers of the last quarter-century. He led the Giants to three World Series titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014, along with leading the Texas Rangers to the 2023 World Series title.
He is 2,252-2,266 as a manager and has the sixth-most victories in baseball history. He passed Baker and Sparky Anderson during the 2025 season with the Rangers. He also led the San Diego Padres to the 1998 World Series.
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