Buster Posey taking massive swing by hiring Tony Vitello as next Giants manager

SAN FRANCISCO -- The timing of the Tony Vitello hire, made official just two days before the start of the World Series, could lead to a fascinating backdrop when the new Giants manager is introduced next week at Oracle Park. 

Major League Baseball prefers that teams avoid major news during the sport's most important week, so the Giants cannot put a different shade of orange on the Tennessee manager until next Thursday, an off day between Game 5 and Game 6 of the World Series. If the Toronto Blue Jays can't find a way to slow the Los Angeles Dodgers, there's a chance that Vitello will be introduced right after his new rival clinches a second straight championship. 

Buster Posey has watched for a decade, first as a player and now as an executive, as the Dodgers have become the league's best and most consistent team. He's hoping that Vitello is the man to help the Giants break the stranglehold on the NL West, and in a press release on Wednesday, he dropped plenty of hints about why he feels that way. 

Posey called Vitello, 47, "one of the brightest, most innovative, and most respected coaches in college baseball," and also noted that his "commitment to developing players stood out." That will be crucial for the Giants moving forward, along with other Vitello traits. 

"His ability to build strong, cohesive teams and his passion for the game align perfectly with the values of our organization," Posey wrote. "We look forward to the energy and direction he will bring along with the memories to be made, as we focus on the future of Giants baseball."

Posey dropped his "memory-making" line a year ago while taking over as president of baseball operations. That was a transformative day for the organization, and there's no doubt that Vitello will bring a similar vibe next Thursday. 

Those who know him consistently bring up the same two words: Energy and charisma. Vitello overflows with both, and they'll be on display when he's introduced and Posey explains why he's handing the keys to a man with no professional experience. 

What might be most important, though, is what Posey won't say, or really, what he can't say. The three most appropriate words right now are simple: "We don't know."

Posey spent months thinking about this. The rest of the front office did its due diligence, and for weeks there were internal conversations about which direction the managerial search should go. Posey did not make hasty decisions as a player and he is said to be just as deliberate as an executive. He is confident that Vitello is the right selection, that he will lead and motivate the clubhouse and serve as the right partner for the new leadership atop the baseball operations department. 

But the Giants also can't fully be sure.

This is a leap of faith, and it's a big one. It's hard to know how the traits that made him one of the country's best recruiters will play over 162 games in a big league clubhouse. This hasn't been tried this way before in MLB, but there are countless examples in the NFL and NBA of top collegiate coaches taking the next step and quickly finding that the tactics that were so effective on 20-year-olds are shrugged off by professionals making tens of millions per year. 

Vitello's Tennessee teams were brash and fiery, and players talked in interviews of "pushing the line" as much as they could. But the new manager will find that some of that will have to be toned down when leading big leaguers. 

There's also the matter of experience, and it's a big one. Vitello's entire career has been spent in college, and in this way he's a bit different from Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy, who is said to be very popular with some in Posey's inner circle. In a lot of ways, Murphy and Vitello are walking the same road, but the former also spent more than a decade as a minor league manager, big league bench coach and even an interim big league manager after leaving Arizona State. Vitello is coming straight from fall scrimmages at Tennessee. 

Those in the Giants organization who are somewhat wary are also hopeful the experience gap can be made up in other ways. Posey is expected to have a say in putting together the coaching staff, and he and Vitello could come together and select an experienced bench coach. There are several former big league managers who are looking for a second chance in this hiring cycle, and one could find that being Vitello's No. 2 is an appealing next stop. 

Posey also could turn to internal choices like Ron Wotus, a longtime big league bench coach, or Mark Hallberg, who has been on the last two coaching staffs at Oracle Park. While most of Bob Melvin's staff is expected to be let go, Vitello could find -- or be told -- that his best choice for pitching coach is the current one, J.P. Martinez. Keeping that continuity on the pitching side could be crucial as Vitello looks to hit the ground running.

Vitello might have to adjust his style to get through the grind of 162 games, but Posey certainly believes that he can. He also is counting on that collegiate background bringing more of a teaching mentality to a franchise that has consistently failed with fundamentals in recent years, and that part is important. When Posey picked up Melvin's option for 2026 and then went into sell-off mode at the deadline, he asked the manager and coaching staff to focus on having the team play clean baseball over the final two months. 

The core of the roster is set, so there's only so much Vitello can do to change the lineup's approach. But the Giants certainly could run more and Posey has mentioned multiple times since the end of the season that there are adjustments to be made before games. An energetic young manager might find some interesting fixes, just as Gabe Kapler's young and inexperienced staff did in 2021. 

Kapler now is an executive in Miami, and in an odd way, this is exactly the type of move he might make if given the chance to hire a manager. When he was preparing to be a manager, he kept a close eye on coaches in the low minors and collegiate ranks, caring more about raw coaching talent than experience, and a few of his favorites joined him in San Francisco. Over time, the Giants have seen that they might have let some talented minds get away when Farhan Zaidi was pushed into cleaning house. 

Kai Correa now is the bench coach of the New York Mets and Craig Albernaz, now with Cleveland, is expected to get a chance to manage soon, possibly in the coming weeks. Donnie Ecker left San Francisco and helped the Texas Rangers win a title and Antoan Richardson got significant credit in New York this season for helping Juan Soto steal 38 bases out of nowhere.

Posey's final season was spent with that group, and he was exposed to new teaching and training methods. During some sessions, the hitting coaches had him bat left-handed to build speed on both sides of his body.

Posey saw during that final season, one of his best as a hitter, just how much the game has evolved, and he's now leading the way in helping MLB take the next step. Many within the industry have talked in recent years about the quality of coaching at the collegiate level, and Posey is turning his franchise, and really, his time as president of baseball operations, over to one of the best the college game has to offer. 

It's a massive risk, but it's one that Posey is uniquely positioned to make. 

When he took over a year ago, many within the organization joked about how Posey's stature as a Giants legend could allow him to do quite literally anything. The Giants do not believe in rebuilding, but if Posey had demanded that they tear it down, he could have gotten ownership, a group he is part of, on board. 

Instead, he has doubled down on the existing core, adding Willy Adames and Rafael Devers with massive financial commitments. He intends to rebuild the pitching staff this offseason, adding pieces behind All-Stars Logan Webb and Robbie Ray. 

They'll all now be coached by a man with no experience with professionals, but as Adames said on the final day of the season, this was Posey's decision to make, and the clubhouse would follow his lead. Posey believes that Vitello is the right man to lead the veterans, the former Volunteers the organization has drafted or traded for recently, and many others. But he can't know for sure, because right now, nobody really can. 

This hasn't been done before, which makes it risky and also fascinating. But after four straight seasons of hanging around .500, maybe that's exactly what these Giants need.