The Giants appear to have found their next manager.
San Francisco is “closing in” on hiring Tennessee coach Tony Vitello to lead the team for the 2026 MLB season, The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly, Brittany Ghiroli and Ken Rosenthal reported in a shared column published Saturday, citing industry sources.
The Athletic reached out to the Giants, who had not yet responded to a request for comment at the time this article was written. Vitello, also reached out to by The Athletic via text message, said, “There is nothing to confirm.”
Vitello has been on Buster Posey’s radar for a while, per NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic. Meanwhile, Texas Rangers special assistant Nick Hundley, who was another frontrunner for the job, recently was pulled out of the running.
Vitello has not yet coached at the professional level after spending more than the last two decades working in the college ranks. He had stints as an assistant at Missouri (2003-10), TCU (2011-13) and Arkansas (2014-17) before being hired as Tennessee’s coach in June 2017.
In eight seasons with the Volunteers, Vitello led the program to a 341-131 record with two SEC regular-season and tournament titles. He also led them to the first national championship during the 2024 season.
After another disappointing season, the Giants parted ways with Bob Melvin last month.
It now appears Buster Posey, entering his second season running baseball operations in San Francisco, isn’t wasting any time filling the void as he hopes Vitello can help turn things around.
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