Evaluating San Francisco Giants Manager Tony Vitello's Performance So Far

The 2026 Major League Baseball season has not exactly been a welcoming party for first-year San Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello. Then again, they rarely are for any rookie skipper, as they typically inherit a trainwreck. But in Vitello's case, he doesn't have as much time as some others, because he's had some serious doubters since the day he took the job.

Making the historical leap from a successful tenure with the Tennessee Volunteers, he had no prior big league coaching or management experience. So when one of the most storied franchises in the game handed him the keys to their Golden Gate castle, fans weren't sure if they were getting a groundbreaker or just a guy who was in way over his head.

Sitting at 29-43, San Francisco has played better recently, but not enough to avoid a lost season. They're now in fourth place in the NL West, 16 games behind the first-place Dodgers. With the pressure building - even in year one - Vitello was the subject of an honest take by Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy, whose team faced off with the Giants during the first of June.

San Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello has less than a half-season under his belt. The front office and Brewers skipper Pat Murphy have thoughts on what they’ve seen so far. https://t.co/JUpor6GAUR

“I think there are a lot of things that we can do better,” Murphy said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “One thing that’s gone on is when the pitching does well, the hitting struggles, flip-flop. Our offense is doing fairly well; it doesn’t have to be on fire, and the pitching staff doing fairly well, all combined, but we haven’t reached that point of consistently putting it all together. That’s a North Star that I think is encouraging.”

“Knowing what I know now, there’s no way in hell I would have been ready for that,” Murphy said. “I think the difference is this guy’s sharper, and I think he’s more balanced. I don’t know him that well, but he’s got a group of people around him ready to help him, and knowing Zack and Posey — I’m just judging Posey on the way he played the game, he knows that they’re going to help him through all this.”

That's been somewhat the consensus for Vitello around the league, as many are willing to give him a pass in his first ride on the roller coaster, while others continue to take a 'wait-and-see' approach to the 47-year-old's development as a team leader.

Stunningly, the Giants have now settled into a level of sub-mediocrity in the National League West pecking order. They are no longer the powerhouse franchise they were a decade ago, especially with several questionable personnel moves.

Still, Giants general manager Zak Minasian says the club believes in Vitello, and they believe they have a successful blueprint for him moving forward.

“I think a lot of times a lot gets made of the X’s and O’s, because it’s what the public can see, and I think that’s something that’s to be determined,” Minasian said. “Tony has been great for us to work with. He’s a communicator, he’s passionate, he’s intense, he’s fun to be around. He tries to connect to each and every person he comes in contact with."

"I think the foundation and intangibles are there for him to be really successful at this, and I think everyone’s going to try and do their part to continue to try to help him as much as possible.”

We'll see if that's enough to buy Tony Vitello the time he needs to fix what ails the San Francisco Giants. Otherwise, a poor showing could be a sign that the franchise made a reckless decision by hiring a college coach. It's a long way from Knoxville now, and even this far into the season, it's still not clear if Vitello knows just how far away from Tennessee he has roamed.

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Ryan K Boman is a freelance writer and the author of the 2023 book, Pop Music & Peanut Butter: A Collection of Essays Looking at Life with Love & Laughter. His previous work has appeared at MSN, Heavy, the Miami Herald, Screen Rant, FanSided, and Yardbarker.

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