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Who is Tony Vitello? What to know about Giants' new manager
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by Yahoo
The Tony Vitello era has officially begun in San Francisco.
Giants general manager Zack Minasian and President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey sought out Vitello because they wanted to do something out of the ordinary. They chose a new manager with no Major League Baseball experience, coming straight from managing the University of Tennessee.
“As much as this feels out of the box, Tony’s name has been bouncing around Major League Baseball for awhile,” Minasian said during Vitello’s introductory news conference.
He added: “We kept coming back to ‘this one would be really interesting’ and just got even more interesting as we continued to speak.”
Despite his lack of MLB experience, Vitello showed an eye for talent, dedication to his craft and passion for the game. That’s what stood out to the Giants’ decision-makers.
“It’s something I’ve come to really appreciate about Tony and honestly made me feel more confident in this decision,” Posey said. “This guy, he was hard to get ahold of. He was on the field all the time or he was bouncing from city to city recruiting, and just because this was on his plate, he was still full go with what his job was at Tennessee. I have a tremendous amount of respect for that. I wish it was easier to get in contact sometimes, but that’s a little bit of how it played out.”
Here’s what to know about new Giants manager Tony Vitello:
How old is Tony Vitello?
Vitello is 47 years old. He was born on Oct. 9, 1978.
Tony Vitello contract, salary
Just weeks after his 47th birthday, Vitello signed a three-year contract (with fourth-year option) with the Giants. He will earn $3.5 million annually, according to The SF Standard.
Where else has Tony Vitello coached?
The elephant in the room is that Vitello has no MLB experience. He has coached MLB talent at Tennessee, however.
Vitello spent eight years as head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers, between 2018 and 2025, winning two SEC regular-season titles, two SEC Tournaments and the 2024 NCAA Baseball Tournament.
In that span, he coached Christian Moore, Garrett Crochet, Chase Silseth, Ben Joyce, Andre Lipcius, Trey Lipscomb, Jordan Beck, Seth Halvorsen, Chase Dollander and current Giants pitcher Blade Tidwell.
Posey praised Vitello’s keen ability to build a culture. The coach’s efforts have seemingly paid off.
“As a coach, I was just trying to make my way,” Vitello said during his October introductory news conference. “I got thrust into a position at a young age that I probably didn’t even deserve, so I was just trying to do a good job, and fortunately it helped get me to the next spot and the next spot and the next spot, and eventually this did become a dream, where I just decided if it was, if I was blessed enough to receive an opportunity, this is something I wanted to do before I was done coaching, in general.”
Prior to Tennessee, Vitello served as an assistant coach at Arkansas, TCU and Missouri.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who is San Francisco Giants new manager Tony Vitello?