Tony Vitello brought up an idea that he used at Tennessee and it was almost immediately rejected by the Giants

San Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello thought about bringing some of the college game to MLB, but it doesn’t sound like his idea was well received. Vitello, who spent eight seasons as the head coach of the Tennessee Vols, toyed around this spring with the idea of, at times, calling pitches from the dugout. The […]

Zach Ragan — Tennessee Volunteers News Writer
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San Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello thought about bringing some of the college game to MLB, but it doesn’t sound like his idea was well received.

Vitello, who spent eight seasons as the head coach of the Tennessee Vols, toyed around this spring with the idea of, at times, calling pitches from the dugout.

The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly noted in February that Vitello and the Giants could call pitches, when it makes sense, from the dugout this season.

“Vitello said last week, for now he is reserving the right to call pitches from the dugout at times and take the onus off catcher Patrick Bailey,” wrote Baggarly.

“There’s a lot of guys that were not happy with last year, right?” said Vitello to The Athletic last month. “This is a mutually exclusive year, but the past does have an influence, and I think some of these guys are using last year’s frustrations, whether they were in the minor leagues or at the big-league level, as motivation to be better prepared and to be a little hungrier this year. I think there’s an openness to trying new things….I don’t think it’s going to be a hard-line rule. Patrick Bailey is who he is and the flow of the game is crucial. It’ll be case by case, and it’s something we’ll roll through in spring training, but if you’re going to put me on the spot, I’ll say occasionally, yeah, we’ll do it.”

Notably, the Miami Marlins started calling pitches from the dugout late last season.

The Giants don’t love the idea of calling pitches from the dugout

According to The San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser, Giants catcher Patrick Bailey, who has been praised for his pitch calling, is among those who “haven’t embraced” the idea of calling pitches from the dugout.

“No, I want to win games. I think I give us the best chance for that,” said Bailey to The San Francisco Chronicle. “If I can be convinced otherwise, I could be convinced otherwise, but I want to win as many games as possible. I think I give us the best chance.”

Giants starting pitcher Logan Webb said he’d “kind of push against it” if the Giants decided to start calling pitches from the dugout.

“Patty does a ton of homework, he knows what he wants to call,” said Webb to The San Francisco Chronicle. “The pitching coaches that I’m going to guess would be calling the pitches — well, we go over what we want to throw already. So I’m not a huge fan of it. I think the Marlins tried it last year, but I don’t think I would do it myself, and I would kind of push against that if they wanted to do it, but that’s just me personally.”

Vitello, to his credit, isn’t insistent on implementing the strategy.

“I don’t ever want to say we would never call pitches from the dugout, and I’ve sat next to Frank (Anderson) and the guy’s as good as anybody at controlling the game, but that’s college kids,” said Vitello to The San Francisco Chronicle. “I think, if anything, the thing that would be emphasized is just communication in between innings, game planning before what we’re looking to do.”

Vitello is always going to be an outside-the-box thinker, so you can’t blame him for bringing up the idea, but it seems clear the Giants are not on board with calling pitches from the dugout the way Vitello and Frank Anderson did at Tennessee.

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