Bombshell report upends SF Giants search for next manager with unlikely name

The SF Giants search for a new manager was upended on Saturday with a report in The Athletic that claims the Giants seem to be zeroing in on Tony Vitello, the head coach of the University of Tennessee baseball team, as next manager.

This news comes as a bit of a shock after weeks where it was presumed that Nick Hundley, a former Giants catcher who was a backup to Buster Posey for two seasons, would be the likely choice of the front office. Instead, it seems the Giants are going in a different direction.

Surprise name emerges as new favorite in SF Giants manager search

A Bay Area sports insider noted that an announcement could be coming soon on the next Giants manager so if Vitello is the guy, there is a chance the Giants could announce it within the next week ahead of the World Series.

Vitello is a 47-year-old who has been a baseball coach at the collegiate ranks since 2002. He has been with Tennessee as their head coach since 2018 and has had great success with that program. He has a 341-131 record in that time and led the Volunteers to a College World Series title in 2024.

The fact that his name has emerged as a favorite so late in the process is a bit of a shock given there were some fairly forceful articles written when his name was first rumored as a potential candidate.

On its face, it would be unlikely for Vitello to leave a cushy job at Tennessee to manage the Giants. The article in The Athletic notes that he makes a lot of money at Tennessee so the Giants would probably have to be offering him quite a bit of money to leave that situation.

We will see if he does end up being the next manager, but if he does this seems to be an attempt from president of baseball operations Buster Posey to truly shake things up. Vitello seems like a high-energy guy who would represent a marked shift from the more muted managerial style of his predecessor Bob Melvin.

Maybe that is what the Giants need after going through some really brutal stretches last season where they just could not seem to stop the bleeding during losing streaks.

Or maybe Posey is making a big mistake by hiring a guy with no professional coaching or playing experience whose style would not mesh with players at the big league level.

Only time will tell, but this is certainly a bombshell report and completely upends everything we thought we knew about the search for a new manager.