FILE – Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello looks on during a baseball game against Stanford at the NCAA College World Series in Omaha, Neb., June 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz, File)

Giants would be the First to hire a college coach

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

In the history of the game, no Major League Baseball team has ever hired a college baseball manager to manage its team. The Giants are reportedly close to hiring Tony Vitello. Vitello would be the first manager in major league history to move directly from a college program to an MLB manager position without any previous experience in a professional organization.

Giants president Buster Posey leads the team’s manager hiring, reportedly targeting Tony Vitello for the role. Posey is part of the Giants’ ownership and has a key role in these decisions. Tony Vitello is the head baseball coach for the University of Tennessee Volunteers, who led the team to a national championship in 2024.

Common sense, and the conventional thinking for many would dictate that if a Major League franchise leaves their organization seeking to hire a new manager, it would be a man that already had managed at the Major League level, but if that is not the case, then the San Francisco Giants have seven managers at their minor league affiliates, including the Sacramento River Cats (Triple-A), Richmond Flying Squirrels (Double-A), Eugene Emeralds (High-A), and San Jose Giants (Single-A), plus two Dominican Summer League teams and one Arizona Complex League team.

The Giants could promote one of these managers to San Francisco. For example, Lenn Sakata, who managed the San Jose Giants for 11 seasons, has the most seniority among minor league managers in the Giants organization.

He holds California League records for wins (757), championships (3), playoff appearances (8), and years managed (11). He is well known and especially here in the Bay Area. So why not pick a man who has paid his dues and has been very successful in the minor leagues, like Sakata?

Of course, like the old saying, ‘it takes two to tango’, Sakata might not want the challenge. Perhaps the Giants’ top brass do not believe he has the leadership skills to guide their team at the Major League level. Buster Posey is the one doing the hiring. Buster Posey, a catcher, could also take the challenge to manage if he so desires.

Catchers are by far the most popular position where Managers come from. The Los Angeles Angels have hired former catcher Kurt Suzuki as their new manager. Suzuki, who finished his playing career with the Angels, has spent the last three seasons as a special assistant to the General Manager.

He replaces Ron Washington and becomes the team’s fifth manager since 2018. Suzuki broke into the major leagues with the Oakland A’s from 2007 to 2011 and later in 2013. He also played and caught for the Nationals, Twins, Braves, and Angels.

During his first season in the majors with the Oakland A’s, I remember Suzuki as a very studious, detail-oriented player —a good catcher, who knew the game and liked the challenge of catching and working game plans with all the pitchers.

When hired as the new Los Angeles Angels manager, Kurt Suzuki expressed his excitement about the opportunity and his commitment to the team’s future, and he expressed gratitude for the role after spending the last three seasons as a special assistant to the general manager. He said he is eager to lead the team as the full-time manager.

If the Giants hire Tony Vitello, it would mark the first time a Major League franchise hires somebody to be their skipper with no experience at the top level of the game. Will it work? Nobody knows. Time will tell. If I were a manager in the team’s minor league system and I learned that the team had hired someone who was managing in College, I believe it would be, in some way, a slap in my face.

At the end of the day, it is a business; this is professional baseball. List of all SF Giants managers from 1958 to 2025: Bill Rigney, Tom Sheehan, Alvin Dark, Herman Franks, Clyde King, Charlie Fox, Wes Westrum, Bill Rigney (again) Joe Altobelli, Dave Bristol, Frank Robinson, Danny Ozark, Jim Davenport, Dusty Baker, Felipe Alou, Bruce Bochy, Gabe Kapler, Kai Correa (interim) Bob Melvin.

Quote: “The secret of managing is to keep the guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided”. Casey Stengel, Manager, Hall of Fame(1966)