SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. \u2014 With a black sweatshirt pulled over his head and a glove in hand, Tony Vitello blends in almost as if he\u2019s one of the Giants players.<\/p>\n
San Francisco\u2019s new manager grabs a piece of gum from a dugout basket then heads out onto the grass at Scottsdale Stadium and gets to work. He lingers for a while in right field, surveying the scene, before making his way to the indoor cage. A short while later, he\u2019s all the way back to home plate, leaning on the right side of the cage, where he fist bumps Heliot Ramos after one of the left fielder\u2019s rounds of batting practice. Vitello moves several feet to his left and takes in more hitters\u2019 work.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s everywhere,\u201d shortstop Willy Adames said. \u201cHe has a lot of energy. He likes to be watching everybody, making sure that everybody is working right and doing the right things. He\u2019s just trying to push the guys to work hard and to be better and I think that\u2019s something that\u2019s going to help the guys a lot and I think that\u2019s something we needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
All eyes are on Vitello as he takes over one of baseball\u2019s most storied franchises without a professional baseball backstory of his own. Giants executive and former catcher Buster Posey made the unconventional hire, entrusting the top dugout step to someone with no major league experience as a player or coach.<\/p>\n
And everybody will be paying attention for his high-profile managerial debut when the Giants host the New York Yankees in baseball\u2019s season opener March 25.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs ready as I\u2019ll be if you ask me that question before the season starts,\u201d Vitello said ahead of the club\u2019s Cactus League opener. \u201cI don\u2019t think you\u2019re ever really ready to do something until you get to do it. … Inevitably something pops up in where you\u2019re like, \u2018I wish I could go back in time and know that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
An avid swimmer who aspires to one day complete the famous event from Alcatraz in San Francisco, Vitello scans his various baseball zones much like a lifeguard with eyes up, observing everything and everyone.<\/p>\n
He also has committed to taking in the wisdom from former managers he has surrounded himself with, such as Dusty Baker and Bruce Bochy, and also new Giants infield coach Ron Washington.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve talked with those guys, they\u2019ve been awesome,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cA lot of little things. When Boch says it, not only do you hear it but you hear it in that thunderous voice. I\u2019ve taken notes from all those guys. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s been one drastic thing said to me, like, \u2018Holy cow, reinvent the game\u2019 or anything like that. It\u2019s just been a lot of consistent help.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bouncing between fields during spring training has been one of the biggest adjustments for the 47-year-old Vitello.<\/p>\n
When he addressed the full team on Day 1, Vitello aimed to just be himself \u2014 \u201chopefully it didn\u2019t sound like a speech, more of a conversation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Everybody realizes there will be a large learning curve, but Vitello has already made a strong impression on his players.<\/p>\n
\u201cTony\u2019s passion for baseball is something else,\u201d outfielder Jung Hoo Lee said. \u201cJust being around him, I feel like my passion grows more with him. It\u2019s really nice being around Tony.\u201d<\/p>\n
Near the end of one spring training practice last month, Vitello squatted with hands on his thighs watching Washington work with Adames.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s going to help him a lot,\u201d Adames said of all the support. \u201cHe\u2019s got Bochy that\u2019s going to be around and Dusty that\u2019s going to be around and Buster is always around. We\u2019ve got a lot of people who have a lot of experience in baseball and have a lot of people who have a lot of experience being a manager, and I think that\u2019s going to help him a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ex-Padres manager Jayce Tingler is Vitello\u2019s good friend and now bench coach, too. Vitello only announced his coaching staff at the start of spring \u2014 months after many other teams \u2014 because that\u2019s how much thought he put into who he wanted by his side.<\/p>\n
And because not doing everything himself has been a process. Previously, there was recruiting, planning road trips, monitoring studies and all of the other demands in the college game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think get more comfortable with delegating, but about nine years ago I definitely warmed up to it with the group of people that I was around,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
First-year San Diego Padres manager Craig Stammen understands the questions about inexperience and that scrutiny comes with the job.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a baseball guy, so I\u2019m going to respect him the same way I respect somebody that played 20 years in the big leagues,\u201d Stammen said of Vitello. \u201cI think he\u2019s earned the right to be a manager in the big leagues. Some people will question me if I earned the right to be a manager in the big leagues. His track record in college is very successful, so he\u2019s going to have the opportunity to bring that track record to MLB.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vitello acknowledges there have been some early hurdles \u2014 and knows there will be plenty more along the way. He replaces three-time Manager of the Year Bob Melvin, a 22-year managerial veteran who was fired after two years and the Giants\u2019 fourth straight season out of the playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s been too wild. I think everything that was a precursor to here was the key,\u201d he said. \u201cFanFest, just how welcoming everybody is. It might sound silly, but just interacting with the 49ers group a few different times and other people in the Bay Area, it made you feel like you were in high school instead of a freshman. I still remember freshman year in high school was kind of nerve-wracking.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I think there was a little bit of momentum for myself coming in. Seamless is a high standard. I think there\u2019s been some snags, but it\u2019s kind of been like, \u2018OK, I get how this goes now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. \u2014 With a black sweatshirt pulled over his head and a glove in hand, Tony Vitello…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":["post-534991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}