Two days after accepting an offer to become the Giants’ next manager, former University of Tennessee coach Tony Vitello met with a select group of media members in Knoxville to issue his first public comments on his unprecedented jump from the college baseball ranks to the Majors.
Vitello’s opening line?
“By now, you all know I officially accepted a position to babysit Drew Gilbert,” Vitello told reporters, including Mike Wilson of the Knoxville News Sentinel.
The playful dig represented a fitting entry point for Vitello, who coached Gilbert at Tennessee from 2020-22 and now reunites with the energetic outfielder in San Francisco.
“I thought that was pretty funny,” Gilbert said in a phone interview on Tuesday. “He’s always got some good one-liners. He’s always been really good, whether it’s talking to the media or talking to the team. I didn’t expect anything less than for him to have something creative to say.”
Vitello, 47, is expected to share more remarks on Thursday, when he’s formally introduced as the 40th manager in Giants history during a press conference at Oracle Park. The unconventional hire has raised eyebrows throughout the industry, but Gilbert is confident that Vitello will be able to make a successful transition to the big leagues and have the same transformative effect for the Giants that he had at Tennessee over the past eight years.
Under Vitello’s leadership, the Volunteers rose from an SEC afterthought to a national powerhouse, making three trips to the College World Series from 2021-24 and winning the program’s first national championship in ’24. Fifty-two players from Vitello’s recruiting classes at Tennessee have been selected in the MLB Draft, including Gilbert and current Giants prospects Blade Tidwell, Maui Ahuna and Gavin Kilen.
“I think it speaks to what he’s been able to accomplish at Tennessee, to be the first college head coach to go straight to the big leagues,” Gilbert said. “I think it’s a testament to what he’s done and who he is as a human and as a coach. It’s awesome. I’m happy for him, and I’m also excited to play for him again.
“I wouldn’t be here without him. I know it’s kind of a cliché line to say, but that’s true. I think he pushed me to places in college that I didn’t think I could get to, whether it be mentally or physically. Baseball has not been the same for me since I haven’t played for him. That’s just being completely honest. Playing for him was different. It was different than anything I’ve experienced, and I mean that in the best way possible.”
While the Giants’ new skipper has never coached in the big leagues, Gilbert believes Vitello’s ability to inspire and connect with players should translate from Knoxville to San Francisco. Several teammates have reached out to ask Gilbert about his former college coach, but the 25-year-old said it won’t take them long to find out what Vitello is all about once Spring Training rolls around.
“I think he’s kind of like a Swiss Army Knife in terms of leadership,” Gilbert said. “He knows how to get the most out of each player. I think that’s his biggest strength. He is the best motivator I’ve ever been around. He knows how to get people to buy in. He does it in a way that’s a blend of an old-school, new-school sort of mentality. He just tows the line of player to coach so well. I’ve never seen anybody be able to do that. It’s super impressive.
“It’s an energy that’s so organic. It’s nothing fake, nothing forced. It’s real. It’s intense. I think a lot of people have a misconception that it’s this rah-rah stuff. Don’t get it twisted, man. He has a high level of expectation for each player. There’s a standard that he set, at least at Tennessee, that was extremely high, and he would live up to that every single day, no matter what time of year it was. I think that’s a joy to be around every single day. It’s hard to even describe unless you were there.”
One of Vitello’s biggest challenges will be adjusting to the 162-game grind of a Major League season, but Gilbert said he doesn’t expect that to be an issue, as he saw Vitello’s competitive fire every single day during his three years at Tennessee.
“I love that as an organization we were willing to take a swing like this,” Gilbert said. “It’s never been done, so you could say, ‘Oh, we’re scared to do this, blah, blah, blah,’ but I think [president of baseball operations] Buster [Posey] and [general manager] Zack [Minasian] and our ownership kind of said, ‘Screw that. We’re swinging for a home run here.’ And I think that’s what they got.”
