{"id":651982,"date":"2026-03-30T06:08:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T06:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/651982\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T06:08:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T06:08:29","slug":"what-stood-out-in-tony-vitellos-first-series-as-sf-giants-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/651982\/","title":{"rendered":"What stood out in Tony Vitello’s first series as SF Giants’ manager?"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 The Tony Vitello era<\/a> in San Francisco isn\u2019t exactly off to a hot start.<\/p>\n

The Giants weren\u2019t just swept by the New York Yankees<\/a> to begin Vitello\u2019s managerial tenure, but outclassed in every facet of the game. The offense, in particular, was a lowlight, scoring just one run and 12 hits over their first three games of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese first three games haven\u2019t gone the way that we wanted to, but that\u2019s how baseball goes,\u201d shortstop Willy Adames said after Saturday\u2019s 3-1 loss, turning the page to Monday\u2019s first road game in San Diego. \u201cObviously, we don\u2019t want to start the season like that, but we have a new series, new day to start fresh and start rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vitello is a curiosity in the baseball industry, and for good reason. He\u2019s the first of his kind, going straight from college to the pros, and a leap of that magnitude brings with it enhanced attention as to how he runs his team. Vitello\u2019s first three games should be taken with a grain of salt, but what most stood out against New York is that Vitello almost went the entire series without utilizing his bench.<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello talks to players in the dugout before their MLB game against the Sultanes de Monterrey at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, March 23, 2026. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

Vitello didn\u2019t go to his reserves during Wednesday\u2019s Opening Night<\/a>, nor did he do so during Friday\u2019s Opening Day<\/a>. He went through the first eight innings on Saturday with just his starters as well, but finally called on the bench in the bottom of the ninth inning of Saturday\u2019s 3-1 loss when he had Jared Oliva pinch-run for Adames.<\/p>\n

Adames appeared somewhat surprised when Oliva jogged out to replace him, saying postgame that he couldn\u2019t remember ever being pulled for a pinch runner, but the move made strategic sense. While Adames has above-average speed, Oliva is by far the Giants\u2019 fastest position player.<\/p>\n

The move is also noteworthy because Vitello showed a willingness to remove one of the Giants\u2019 foundational players in favor of someone who gives San Francisco a better chance of winning the game in a specific scenario. It\u2019s exactly the type of tough decisions that Vitello will have to make if he and the Giants are going to succeed.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

On the flip side, Vitello\u2019s decision to pull Adames followed another decision to stick with a starter in the bottom of the seventh. With the Yankees\u2019 left-handed specialist Tim Hill on the mound, Vitello opted to keep the left-handed hitting Jung Hoo Lee in the ballgame instead of calling on a pinch-hitter.<\/p>\n

Lee had a career .599 OPS against lefties entering Saturday, and Hill held left-handed hitters to a .444 OPS last season. Jerar Encarnacion was available, but Vitello stuck with Lee, who struck out looking.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an argument that keeping Lee in the game was the right move since there were two outs in the inning with no one on base in a two-run deficit. What\u2019s most notable, though, is that Vitello said there was no consideration to going to his bench, which is composed strictly of right-handed hitters.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, not at all. (Lee) is our guy,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cI think those guys had gotten a previous look at Hill. Obviously he\u2019s really tough, but (Luis) Arr\u00e1ez was able to get to him and some guys in spring training, with a good approach, were able to have success against him.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was another move that stung Vitello on Saturday: letting a left-handed reliever go after the best hitter in the game.<\/p>\n

Lefty Ryan Borucki entered in the top of the fifth to handle a pocket of left-handed hitters \u2014 with Aaron Judge in between. Borucki retired the first two left-handed batters, striking out Austin Wells and getting Trent Grisham to fly out. When Judge stepped to the plate with the left-handed hitting Cody Bellinger on deck, it would\u2019ve made sense if Vitello ordered Borucki to pitch around the three-time MVP.<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Francisco Giants\u2019 Jung Hoo Lee #51 is congratulated by manager Tony Vitello after scoring on a single by Matt Chapman #26 in the third inning of their MLB game against the New York Yankees at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

Vitello made no such order. Borucki elevated a cutter and Judge sent it over the left-field fence, hitting the top of an ambulance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we go back in time, now that we know the result, we would (walk Judge),\u201d Vitello said. \u201cThat was a consideration. We didn\u2019t do it and he made us pay, which is why he\u2019s pretty good. He\u2019s more than pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Giants never led in the series, so Vitello didn\u2019t get to deploy his bullpen in a late-game situation with a lead to protect, but the early returns from the relievers are reason for encouragement.<\/p>\n

With off days on Thursday and Sunday, Vitello used all eight relievers at least once. Over 12 2\/3 innings, San Francisco\u2019s bullpen allowed just two runs and totaled 13 strikeouts.\n<\/p>\n

Along with all that occurred between the lines, Vitello had his first interesting postgame moment when he shouldered part of the blame for the Giants\u2019 first two losses of the season. Vitello referred to how he made an impassioned \u201cfire and brimstone\u201d speech days before the game, one that he believes resulted in emotions running \u201ca little too high.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello signs autographs for fans after their MLB win against the Sultanes de Monterrey at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, March 23, 2026. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

Vitello\u2019s players appreciated the sentiment but didn\u2019t believe his remarks were necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all major league players. I think that we can handle it,\u201d said left-hander Robbie Ray. \u201cWe can handle the ups and downs. It\u2019s just one of those things that has happened the first two games. It\u2019s not ideal. Like I said, you got 160 games left, so what are you going to do with it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the start of the season,\u201d said Heliot Ramos on Friday. \u201cWe just have to get going. We just have to try to keep executing and play our game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Giants didn\u2019t execute in San Francisco. In San Diego, they\u2019ll have three more opportunities to get Vitello his first major league win.<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Francisco Giants Tony Vitello and San Francisco Giants\u2019 Willy Adams (2) hug during Opening Night against the New York Yankees at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (Shae Hammond\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 The Tony Vitello era in San Francisco isn\u2019t exactly off to a hot start. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2408],"tags":[5,2178,162,4,378,66,4343,4340,4344,4341,4342,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-651982","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-giants","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-giants","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-san-francisco","13":"tag-san-francisco-giants","14":"tag-sanfrancisco","15":"tag-sanfranciscogiants","16":"tag-sf","17":"tag-sf-giants","18":"tag-sfgiants","19":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116316635706688726","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}