Copyright Heavy.
On Wednesday October 22, 2025, the San Francisco Giants finally officially announced former University of Tennessee manager Tony Vitello as their new skipper. Vitello will be the first manager to ever make the jump from the collegiate level to the MLB level with no prior coaching experience in the professional baseball ranks. And Volunteers fans are heartbroken. Vitello is a manager they loved dearly, and while many of them are happy to see him get an MLB opportunity and make history, it still hurts to see him go. While I am excited to see what Vitello can do in San Francisco and think he was a great hire, my heart also feels for Volunteers fans. Guys, your passion for your college baseball team is so awesome. I wish people in California cared as much as you and I do about college baseball. But as a lifelong Giants fan I also know Giants fans well, and how they will respond. So I wanted to write an open letter to Volunteers fans, and make them a promise about how Giants fans will treat Vitello. Dear Tennessee fans, Do you remember the 2010 San Francisco Giants? That World Series-winning team had some great players. Our new president of baseball operations, Buster Posey, was the best of them. But do you know who our favorites were in San Francisco? The ones with the biggest, wildest personalities. Tim Lincecum, Brian Wilson, Pablo Sandoval, Madison Bumgarner, Andres Torres, Sergio Romo. This was a team full of guys who weren’t afraid to loudly be themselves. Guys that we still proudly wear beat-up jerseys with their last name and number on the back all of these years later. We had a surplus of personality in 2012 and 2014 as well. Hunter Pence is and always will be one of the best faces of the franchise. I know it’s a different culture out here. Politically, economically, socially, you name it. But passion plays anywhere. And it certainly plays in San Francisco. I promise you that Giants fans will give Vitello the support he deserves. We will ride with him when he’s thrown out of the game. We will make his jersey the highest selling of any manager ever. We may not be able to make it exactly like Rocky Top, but you can bet we will love him better than any other MLB city could. And remember who he will get to coach. Former Vols Drew Gilbert, Blade Tidwell, Gavin Kilen and Maui Ahuna are all within our organization. I’m sure we’ll go out and sign other friends/former players of his, like Max Scherzer. And that doesn’t even touch all of the other great personalities currently on this roster, like Willy Adames, Heliot Ramos, Jung Hoo Lee, Rafael Devers and Matt Chapman. We have one of the most fun groups of human beings Vitello could ever get to work with, and we love all of them. I promise we will make you proud, and make it easy to keep rooting for Tony V. Our players, our alumni, our organization, and especially our fans will match his energy and make Volunteers fans glad that, if he had to go anywhere, at least he went to San Francisco. And I’m sure Giants fans will begin to feel some kinship with the Tennessee baseball program as well. Maybe since college baseball isn’t as popular as here, Vitello will make some new Volunteers fans out of Giants fans. As all big baseball fans and wearers of orange, I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Go Rocky Top, And Go Giants. All the best, Ethan
