Good morning, baseball fans!
Earlier this week, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area wrote about how the San Francisco Giants’ new manager Tony Vitello is preparing for his new role.
Vitello, as we know, has no MLB experience as either a player or a coach (though he has coached several MLB players). So he has had to shift gears quite a bit to transition from coaching college baseball to the majors. But as Pavlovic reports in his piece, his fellow managers were eager to reach out to him to offer support at the winter meetings. It also helps that the Giants have hired multiple former MLB managers in various roles within the organization.
Not that Vitello necessarily needs anyone else to tell him how to do the job, but it’s certainly helpful to get the perspective of those who have come before you as you navigate new waters. So it’s encouraging to me that he is actively doing so.
In Pavlovic’s reporting, he notes that one of Vitello’s priorities over the offseason is to get to know his new players. He reportedly has trips planned to the Dominican Republic and South Korea to visit players and facilities there. And he’s been working on getting to know other players over the phone, to build a report for when they all arrive at Spring Training.
Pavlovic’s reporting is a good read if you have some time. He offers some insights into Vitello’s mindset as he starts this next chapter of both his managing career, and this new chapter of Giants baseball.
