As the Winter Meetings got underway in Orlando earlier this week, San Francisco Giants first-year skipper Tony Vitello did his best to get his bearings at the massive annual event.
Vitello comes to the Giants after landing the job in October following a seven-year stint coaching the Tennessee Volunteers, illustrating a monumental jump from college baseball to Major League Baseball. As Vitello got acclimated to the biggest event during the MLB offseason, he looked to connect with one person: Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy.
“Pat Muphy stands out because of the college background and having competed against him,” Vitello said. “Frank Anderson knows him well. Brett, his son, knows him even better.”
Murphy — the back-to-back National League Manager of the Year — has a wealth of experience at the collegiate level. He became the head coach of Notre Dame’s baseball program in 1987 and in seven seasons at the helm led the Fighting Irish to a 318–116–1 (.732) record and three consecutive trips to NCAA Regional Finals in 1992, 1993 and 1994. From 1995-2009, he was the coach at Arizona State before beginning his MLB journey in 2010.
Vitello also experienced a great deal of success in NCAA, as he compiled multiple College World Series appearances, a National Championship and several Coach of the Year honors. Vitello wanted to connect with Murphy sooner but had to wait for the season to finish as the Brewers were playing in the postseason after a franchise-best 97-win campaign.
“Everyone agreed; we better wait until the season is over, because he is as competitive as it gets,” Vitello said. “But he was still able to kind of — through Brett and Frank — kind of relay some things to me. I haven’t seen him yet.”
Vitello admitted to the challenge of getting used to the Winter Meetings, especially coming off a minor surgery just days before.
“It’s been busy. I don’t know what I’m doing at this thing, to be honest with you. And then I’ve also, I had a very minor surgery earlier this week. So, kind of battling through that a little bit. I crashed pretty hard last night.”
Vitello did not disclose what the procedure was but added that he is doing better now.
“Yeah, kind of something that just needed to be cleaned up and glad to have it out of the way.”
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Remember to join our GIANTS on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form. and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other Giants fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that’s free too!
