Tony Vitello finished his first MLB season as the league leader in a category that won’t surprise Tennessee Vols fans
Former Tennessee Volunteers baseball coach Tony Vitello just wrapped up his first season as the manager of the San Francisco Giants.
Former Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello just wrapped up his first season as the manager of the San Francisco Giants.
And it was not a great season.
The Giants finished with the second-worst record in the National League (65-97). The poor record wasn’t all on Vitello — the Giants dealt with injuries and a poorly constructed roster — but there were certainly some moments when the former Vols coach experienced some growing pains (Vitello was the first college coach in the modern era to go straight into a manager’s role without previous pro ball experience).
By the end of the season, however, it felt like Vitello was starting to find his way in an MLB dugout. It felt like he was becoming the leader of the team instead of the guy who was simply trying to fit in with a bunch of guys who all had significantly more big league experience.
It’ll be on the Giants’ front office to build a winning roster, but there’s some optimism that Vitello can do something special in San Francisco with the right combination of players.
Tony Vitello finished as the league leader in ejections in his rookie season
This won’t come as a surprise to Vols fans, but Vitello finished his rookie season as the league leader in a notable category — ejections.
Vitello was ejected seven times this season — including in the final game.
Vitello had a reputation at Tennessee for being fiery, and that didn’t change during his first season in the big leagues.
Though I think it’s fair to point out that a couple of Vitello’s ejections this season weren’t really warranted. Many felt that Vitello was getting “bullied” by MLB umpires, and a couple of his ejections were described as “soft.”
Maybe Vitello will get a little more respect next season from MLB umpires now that he has a year of experience under his belt.
