SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Giants manager Tony Vitello readily admits that he got a walk-on spot at the University of Missouri thanks in part to his father, Greg, who was a legendary high school baseball and soccer coach in suburban St. Louis for 46 years.
He knew he wasn’t the most talented infielder, but he was determined to outwork everyone else, so he headed straight to the batting cages on his first day with the program. When he arrived, he found that one of his new teammates had already beaten him there.
“The very first person I saw was Jayce Tingler hitting in the cage,” Vitello recalled. “Jayce, now, is physical, but at the time, he’s small. I thought, ‘Who is this guy?’ It kind of immediately boosted my confidence. Maybe I can make this team. It turns out he’s our best player and our best competitor and became one of my best friends.”
A quarter century after their college days at Missouri, Vitello and Tingler are back on the same team again. Vitello is in uncharted territory after becoming the first college coach to jump directly to managing in the big leagues without any pro experience, but he’ll have a key guidepost in Tingler, whom he brought on to serve as his bench coach.
Tingler was an obvious choice for Vitello’s coaching staff from the start, as he previously managed the Padres (2020-21) and spent the past four seasons as the Twins’ bench coach.
Tingler will serve as Vitello’s right-hand man in the dugout, working three or four innings ahead to provide options on potential moves and scenarios that could arise during games. The counsel isn’t expected to end there, as Vitello knows he’ll have to rely on his former college teammate to cover endless blind spots as he embarks on his unprecedented transition to the Majors.
“I think it’s huge,” Vitello, 47, said. “If I could get vulnerable for a second, you need coworkers and you’ve got to lean on people, but you also need a friend. … I think having somebody who’s lived out about every scenario you can in this game, it’s valuable on the work side, but also on the personal side.”
“It’s been a 25-year relationship,” Tingler, 45, said. “I think both of us maybe deep down — maybe it was a dream, maybe it was a desire — I think one day we hoped to work with each other. This opportunity presented itself, and I think he’s excited. I know 100% I’m excited for the opportunity, as well.”
Tingler and Vitello were teammates at Missouri for three years in the early 2000s, but their relationship took on a different dynamic when Vitello became an assistant coach for the program immediately after he graduated. Vitello was tasked with coaching the outfielders, which meant he was in charge of instructing Tingler during his senior season in 2003.
“We about killed each other about 17 times that year,” Vitello joked.
“We would bang heads, and it was in a healthy way,” Tingler said. “I think the bottom line is I feel accurate in saying that he made me a better player.”
Tingler recognized Vitello’s coaching aptitude early on and encouraged him to pursue that track when they went out to Harpo’s Bar and Grill to commiserate over Missouri’s loss in the second round of the Columbia Super Regional in 2003.
“I remember talking about a coach that I admire and look up to in college baseball, and he said, ‘You can be better than that guy,’” Vitello said. “I never forgot that. It’s kind of one of those things [where] I know exactly where I was sitting, I know what was going on. Obviously, I wasn’t overserved because I remember exactly what he said, and it stuck with me. And then he kind of did the same thing in this setting. That belief matters. If somebody just on the street says this or that, it doesn’t carry as much weight. It’s beneficial, but it carries a lot of weight coming from a guy like that.”
“Most of the days at Harpo’s, I do not remember, if I’m being honest,” Tingler said, smiling. “But Tony’s always been different. He has always connected with people, players, young players. He’s always connected with people extremely well. I think it’s maybe one of his best gifts — the way he can communicate, the way he connects with people. He’s always been different. And so if you kind of look at the history, he’s been successful everywhere he’s been.”
Tingler was down the line on a few opportunities with other teams when the Giants hired Vitello out of the University of Tennessee in October, but he said it was a “no-brainer” to accept his longtime friend’s offer to join his coaching staff in San Francisco.
“He’s probably the most intense player I’ve ever coached,” Vitello said. “It’s been fun watching his career. I guess he won the contest. I’ve always been trying to get him into college baseball, and he’s always brought up pro baseball. Either way, we had a feeling we’d always work together one day.”
