According to baseball insiders Andrew Baggarly, Ken Rosenthal and Brittani Ghiroli of The Athletic, the San Francisco Giants are close to a deal to make University of Tennessee manager Tony Vitello their next manager after firing Bob Melvin in late September.
Vitello’s current contract with the Volunteers pays him $3 million a year until 2029, which is the second biggest contract in all of college baseball. The Giants will likely need to compensate him in the $6 million a year range to get him to leave Knoxville. His buyout is reportedly $3 million.
While the Giants have made their decision on Vitello, the two sides have yet to agree to a contract. MLB insiders Jeff Passan and Pete Thamel are reporting that a decision should come in the next 1-3 days.
If his hire is made official, Vitello would become the first manager in MLB history to make the jump from the college ranks to the MLB with no previous professional experience.
He also represents a total pivot from all of President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey’s other rumored candidates, as he is the only one who is not a former catcher.
All About Tony Vitello’s Background
We’ve established that Vitello’s baseball background is atypical for a Buster Posey candidate and would be a first among MLB managers. But what is his baseball background?
Vitello played college baseball at the University of Missouri from 2000-2002 under Head Coach Tim Jamieson. He earned Academic All-Big 12 conference honors as a senior.
He began his coaching career in 2002 with the Salinas Packers of the California Collegiate League, a wood bat college summer offseason baseball league. After a historic summer with the Packers, leading them to the NBC World Series for the first time in team history, he went back to Missouri to become an assistant coach.
He served as an assistant at TCU and Arkansas before Tennessee hired him as their Head Coach in 2017.
From 2018-2025, Vitello has been one of the best coaches in college baseball. He has amassed a 341-131 record, reestablished Tennessee as an SEC and national power and most notably led the Volunteers to a College World Series championship in 2024.
“Vitello’s philosophies on the game and personality intrigued Posey and aligned with what the future Hall of Famer hopes to build in San Francisco, sources said,” Passan and Thamel wrote in an ESPN article.
Vitello Would Be Must-Watch
Speaking of Vitello’s personality, the 47-year old is known for being extremely energetic, if not rowdy. It’s an approach that has endeared Tennessee fans but earned the ire of fans of every other team around the SEC.
In relation to larger baseball strategy, it’s an approach that works well on the recruiting trail and in college clubhouses with young men, but it would certainly be an interesting experiment in the MLB with professional athletes.
But whether it succeeds massively or fails miserably, it would be wildly entertaining. The Giants clubhouse is already ripe with personality, with Willy Adames, Rafael Devers, Matt Chapman, Jung Hoo Lee, Patrick Bailey, Bryce Eldridge, and Drew Gilbert all big personalities that could either gel or clash with Vitello.
Speaking of Gilbert, he previously played for Vitello at Tennessee. So did two other prominent Giants prospects: right-handed pitcher Blade Tidwell and 2025 first round draft pick Gavin Kilen.
Out of all of these relationships, the Gilbert-Vitello reunion would certainly be the most entertaining.
Giants fans, what do you think of the Vitello news?
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