SAN FRANCISCO — Three-time New York Yankees MVP Aaron Judge will be hanging in right field. Home run king Barry Bonds will be sharing his thoughts for the world to hear. Future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols will be on a microphone. Future Hall of Famers Dusty Baker, Bruce Bochy and Buster Posey will be sitting together in the San Francisco Giants executive suite.
But the most high-powered microscope will be zeroed in on the 47-year-old dude who never played a professional baseball game, never managed a professional baseball game, and has never even attended an opening day game.
Tony Vitello will make baseball history by becoming the first person to ever manage a major-league game directly out of college with zero professional experience.
The San Francisco Giants' new manager will be baseball’s guinea pig for the 2026 season, which could either open the floodgates for collegiate coaches to fill MLB vacancies – or close the door for any organization to ever consider such an idea again.
“Well," Vitello says, “I’m ready.
“I’ve got no other choice at this point, right?’’
Vitello, who coached at Tennessee, winning the 2024 national championship, looks into your eyes and won’t lie to you. He’s going to be nervous. He’s used to big games being against LSU on Friday nights on the SEC Network. Now, he’s facing baseball’s most historic franchise, with 27 World Series championships and Hall of Fame alumni from Ruth to Gehrig to DiMaggio to Berra to Mantle to Jeter to Judge.
So, you can imagine the national uproar with one lineup malfunction, a wrong pinch-hitting move, a bullpen blunder or a slip-up in a mid-game interview?
There will be millions of keyboard warriors waiting to pounce.
“I’ll be ready," Vitello says. “People critique, and when your pay for your ticket, that’s what you get to do. Or even if you're in our dugout, you're allowed to have second thoughts on anything. But the one thing I'll say is any decision we make is going to be a group effort, and there will be no stone left unturned prior to doing it.
“Whatever it is we choose to do, we're going full steam ahead, and I take responsibility from this point on. Ultimately, I have the final say, so that’s on me, but I love that I can rely on my guys."
'We couldn't be happier'
The Giants front office, who believed they’d rather have an unproven collegiate coach than hiring back Bochy, bringing in former Cubs manager Joe Maddon or David Ross, or giving recently fired Brandon Hyde or Davey Martinez another shot, know they’ve opened themselves up for ridicule.
They are paying more for a manager than any team in history, with $3.5 million paid directly to Vitello, $3 million to Tennessee for the buyout, and $4 million to Bob Melvin, who was fired.
Yet, instead of being anxious about their decision, the Giants left their Scottsdale, Arizona spring training complex convinced more than ever that they made the right move.
“I've been fortunate to be around some great managers," Giants GM Zack Minasian tells USA TODAY Sports, “from Johnny Oates to Buck Showalter to Melvin to Bobby Valentine to Boch. But watching Tony on the field during drills this spring is something different than I’ve ever seen. He makes it a lot of fun for the players. He just brings so much energy each and every day, and it’s something intentional.
“We want people excited walking into the doors in the clubhouse every day and I feel like so many people are and in a great frame of mind. I really think our players, our staff, are having fun. It’s fun to be around.
“Really, we couldn’t be happier."
There was so much outside noise about how the players may respond to a manager with zero experience, but the Giants haven't had internal complaints.
“It’s been an extremely seamless transition," Minasian says. “He’s been really able to build relationships quickly. The one thing I wasn't expecting is just how well connected he is to so many different people in professional baseball. You hear a lot, obviously, about him being the first manager to make the jump. And you assume that maybe they don't have the contacts that maybe someone else who had been in professional baseball for a long time would have. And he has just a huge address book that's full of people who have been in professional baseball a long time, from executives to agents to players.
“When we're having conversations about different possibilities, we've got a pretty good way to go and get information to help us."
There wasn’t a time a player publicly questioned anything Vitello tried, whether it was having the entire team involved in infield drills, having piercing noise blaring over the stadium loudspeakers during pop-ups to resemble a hostile crowd crowd, or watching Vitello taking grounders as if he’s one of the boys.
“It’s definitely different," Giants veteran backup catcher Eric Haase says. “Overall, he’s really brought in good energy, unmatched energy. He also has a very acute attention to detail. He’s got his hands in everything, but he’s given us a lot of freedom to have the clubhouse be our clubhouse. The guys have really gravitated towards Tony, and I’m excited to see what it looks like during the year."
'Ready or not, here we come'
It may have only been just spring training, a time where stats and standings are forgotten by the time the team boards the plane home, but for Vitello, it was a chance to establish the culture of winning.
The Giants went 19-9, finishing just one-half game behind the two-time World Series champion Dodgers (20-9), producing the highest batting average in the Cactus League with the lowest ERA.
“Tony brings a lot of passion," Giants ace Logan Webb says, “and I think he wants us to play with passion. I’m not saying he wants us to play like a college baseball team, but he wants us to play hard and be aggressive."
And yes, he badly wants to win, finally returning the Giants back to the postseason for the first time since 2021, failing to even produce a winning record.
“There’s a competitive nature with Tony that you just can't turn off," Minasian says, “in a good way. And so if we're out there playing a game, whether it's spring training or the regular season, he wants to win the game. There's an intensity and he's driven to succeed, no matter what time of year it is."
There will be growing pains, Vitello says. But the best managers learn from their mistakes and aren’t afraid to embrace them either.
He’s already been cautioned about the etiquette of being a major league manager, which he still may slip up at times this year.
“I assume I'm not going to be allowed to carry my bag on the plane," Vitello says, “even though I'm the one that packed it. I've kind of been warned of that by like seven people."
And on this Wednesday evening in San Francisco, the Vitello era begins.
“I know things will be completely different from spring training as far as the pace and the circumstances,’’ Vitello says. “The crowds will be bigger. The stadiums will be bigger. But you know, I think the baseball is going to be the same.
“So, here we go. Ready or not, here we come."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Giants' Tony Vitello era begins with manager's Opening Day vs. Yankees
