The San Francisco Giants hiring a supervisor like Tony Vitello, whom they’re mentioned to be pursuing, comes with some dangers.
The top coach on the College of Tennessee since 2018, Vitello has by no means managed, coached and even performed on the skilled stage, majors or minors. He could be the primary supervisor in main league historical past to make such a leap. Vitello having executed all of these issues — play, coach and handle as knowledgeable — little question would inform him on his first day as Giants supervisor. It is not supreme Vitello hasn’t ridden with the boys on the buses over the again roads to bush league video games.
However it’s not every part, and Giants basic supervisor Buster Posey is aware of it.
This is what Vitello has executed: develop main league ballplayers. That is a high quality main league groups need in a supervisor nowadays, and it is what they need to need. Improvement was once seen as a website largely for the minor leagues, nevertheless it’s short-sighted to imagine that creating gamers stops as soon as they attain the majors. A number of instances, it does. However it should not should.
Vitello has excelled in improvement, along with his Tennessee bio stating: “Throughout a full-time, Division I teaching profession spanning 22 years, Vitello has signed and developed 16 first-round MLB Draft picks and a handful of gamers who’ve gone on to play in Main League Baseball.” The names from Tennessee embrace Garrett Crochet, Ben Joyce, Jordan Beck, Chase Hollander and Christian Moore. MLB groups have drafted 41 gamers from Tennessee since 2021, greater than every other spot.
Different notable MLB ballplayers Vitello has recruited and coached, as an assistant at Arkansas and Missouri, embrace Brandon Finnegan, Andrew Benintendi, Ian Kinsler and Max Scherzer. Scherzer, a three-time Cy Younger winner and possible Corridor of Famer as soon as he retires, mentioned in a 2022 interview with SNY that Vitello helped him use his personal well-known depth to a bonus.
“Tony introduced out an much more aggressive facet in me,” Scherzer says. “Identical for that group of pitchers there on the time. Their depth rubbed off on me. They challenged me to be higher, to be extra aggressive. Missouri was actually floor zero for me changing into a giant league pitcher, rising into greater than only a thrower.”
He may not have been on the skilled stage but, however Vitello has an intensive background of figuring out, evaluating and creating big-league expertise. He simply did not occur to be on the skilled stage (but) whereas teaching and managing these gamers. And it isn’t like Vitello simply used the job at Tennessee to go the gamers forward to the following stage. He is additionally gotten outcomes as a supervisor, successful the NCAA championship in 2024, making three Males’s School World Sequence since 2021, and 6 regionals total. Tennessee has turn into a nationwide energy, engaging in issues it by no means had executed earlier than in baseball.
Perhaps in one other period, an individual with Vitello’s talent set would have been on an government monitor, however Posey does not want a GM — that is what he does. Regardless of, if Vitello can suppose like a GM and nonetheless perform as a supervisor, the Giants might get extra from the dugout than most groups.
Vitello is more likely to discover pockets of resistance at first, past media sorts and followers unsure about his bona fides as a skipper. On the subsequent stage, Vitello additionally will run right into a ballplayer or two unimpressed that the supervisor wasn’t adequate to play professionally. It would even bug one in all his gamers that Vitello himself did not attain the majors as a participant. That is their downside. Not having performed within the majors, way back, proved to be no huge deal in itself.
Going again to the Nineteen Thirties and ’40s, Joe McCarthy gained seven World Sequence managing the New York Yankees. He by no means made it previous the minor leagues as a participant. Earl Weaver did not play within the majors and gained 4 pennants and a World Sequence with the Baltimore Orioles. Jim Leyland, Jack McKeon, Joe Maddon, Brian Snitker — all of them gained World Sequence rings as managers with out having performed within the majors, too. A number of of those guys are within the Corridor of Fame.
There are many causes to suppose that, say, Albert Pujols could be supervisor within the majors. He’s mentioned to be a candidate at a number of locations, from the Angels to the Orioles. It is true that Pujols has been getting ready to handle the Dominican Republic workforce for the World Baseball Traditional, and he is executed a bit right here and there as a particular assistant and part-time coach on the main league stage. However envisioning Pujols as a big-league supervisor requires some religion, too. Vitello has proved he can do loads that Pujols has but to attempt. That does not disqualify both of them.
As for evaluating managers as gamers, no one cares about how a supervisor’s taking part in profession stacks up so long as they seem to be a good supervisor, or so long as they simply occur to win. Have a look at the managers of the current World Sequence winners and their very own taking part in careers. Dave Roberts with the Dodgers: strong participant within the majors, principally a fourth outfielder. Bruce Bochy with the Rangers: a backup catcher. Dusty Baker with the Astros: a two-time All-Star. Snitker with the Braves: performed six video games at Triple-A.
All types can handle a significant league workforce. Historical past has been proving it since Frank Selee (look him up). Posey and the Giants seem on the verge of discovering an intriguing supervisor by trying outdoors of the field. However not that outdoors.
