Former Tennessee Vols baseball star Drew Gilbert caught a hilarious stray from Tony Vitello after Giants’ win over Marlins
Former Tennessee Vols baseball outfielder Drew Gilbert was reunited this season with Tony Vitello, his former UT baseball coach. Vitello is in his first season as the manager of the San Francisco Giants.
Former Tennessee Vols outfielder Drew Gilbert caught a hilarious stray from his former UT baseball coach Tony Vitello on Sunday.
Gilbert, who is in his second year with the San Francisco Giants, was reunited with Vitello this past offseason when the former Tennessee coach agreed to become the new manager of the Giants.
Vitello coached Gilbert for three seasons on Rocky Top.
Drew Gilbert catches stray from Tony Vitello after Giants’ win over Marlins
Vitello met with reporters after the Giants’ 6-3 win over the Miami Marlins on Sunday and he poked fun at Gilbert’s skill level compared to San Francisco first baseman and three-time All-Star Rafael Devers.
“Rafi’s got two strikes on him, and he’s just up there fighting — fighting the situation rather than kind of fighting himself at times,” said Vitello. “At least that’s what it has appeared as. The next thing you know, it was such a pretty swing (from Devers) that Drew punched me and said, ‘That’s the swing.’ And then, it’s kind of funny, but also in all seriousness, Drew goes up there and almost takes the same identical swing. He’s just not as good as Rafi, so it didn’t go as far, but it worked out pretty good there.”
Devers hit an opposite field RBI double to bring the Giants within one run on the swing that Vitello was talking about.
Gilbert then drove in Devers with an opposite field single.
The Giants have now won three series in a row.
I can’t imagine how much fun Vitello and Gilbert are going to have in the Giants’ dugout this summer. It’s going to be fun to watch.