Former LSU baseball star Paul Skenes gives his thoughts on how former Tennessee coach Tony Vitello will fare in MLB
Former Tennessee Vols baseball coach Tony Vitello was recently hired as the new manager of the San Francisco Giants.
Former LSU Tigers RHP Paul Skenes shared his thoughts this week on former Tennessee Vols baseball coach Tony Vitello’s recent decision to make the jump to MLB.
Vitello, who was hired at Tennessee in 2017, agreed to a deal last week to become the new manager of the San Francisco Giants.
The Giants will introduce Vitello at a press conference on Thursday (October 30).
Paul Skenes says former Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello is a “winner”
Skenes, who spent just one season at LSU after transferring from Air Force, joined CBS Sports HQ this week and gave his thoughts on how Vitello will handle the transition from college baseball to MLB.
“I think out of all the people that are in college baseball, there are probably three or four that could make the jump to being a major league manager,” said Skenes. “I think Vitello is one of them. He’s a winner. I played against him while I was at LSU, and obviously [I’ve] watched him coaching for a few years.
“He’s going to have a good support staff. He’s going to have good coaches around him — which is, I would assume, a lot of the battle for being a major league manager. But I think in terms of a learning curve, I think he’ll figure it out pretty quick. He’s sharp. He’s a winner.”
There’s no doubt that Vitello will have to adapt to the style of the big league game, which means he’ll likely make some mistakes (but that’s true of at least a few managers every night in MLB over the course of the season). But I think Skenes is right — Vitello is sharp and he’s a winner. He’ll figure it out pretty quickly.
By the way, Skenes started two games against Vitello and the Vols in 2023, giving up just three runs in 14.2 innings with 24 strikeouts (the second of those starts came in the College World Series in Omaha).
Tennessee Volunteers News
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There’s been plenty of speculation about why Tony Vitello left the Tennessee Vols for the San Francisco Giants.
