Tony Vitello Explains What The MLB Can Benefit From With College Baseball

Tony Vitello plans to take this from the college scene and apply it to his MLB career.

Tony Vitello at his press conference with the San Francisco Giants | San Francisco Giants (X page)

The Tennessee Volunteers lost one of their better college baseball coaches of all time, as Tony Vitello took off to the MLB. He accepted the San Francisco Giants manager job, which made history in the MLB world.

Vitello accepted the job to become the manager, and is the first coach with zero MLB experience to jump up to the MLB from college and take on a manager role. He is also the highest-paid first time MLB manager.

There are many things that he can take away from the college baseball scene and can apply to the MLB world. Here is what he had to say about it in his introductory press conference.

Tony Vitello on The Elements of College Baseball That MLB Will Benefit From

Tennessee baseball head coach Tony Vitello makes an appearance at the ESPN College GameDay stage outside of Ayres Hall on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville, Tenn., on Sept. 24, 2022. The flagship ESPN college football pregame show returned for the tenth time to Knoxville as the No. 12 Vols hosted the No. 22 Gators. | Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“I think there’s a trade back and forth off the cuff. I don’t want to say the wrong one. I’m around big league guys up here, but I think in college, it’s so important to build relationships with these kids, because they’re at a vulnerable part in their life where they’re so impressionable and they need to be able to come forward to you with things that maybe don’t even relate to baseball. In all walks of life, any kind of business, and we’re in, you know, one of the most innovative and aggressive areas of business in the world, really. So whether it’s that or with baseball, relationships are so important, and so I’m sure that’s being done at this level. I just think it’s a different perspective that either I can bring or other coaches can bring, and you know, I’ll also say this, you look at guys like Christian Moore who are almost immediately in the big leagues, and obviously, Paul Skenes is having success and things like that. I think the two are kind of melting together. And trust me, college baseball, I wouldn’t vote myself to be the pioneer of college baseball, but I think one thing that can come out of this is it can be one step further of the two, again, kind of melting together, and MLB supporting college baseball and doing things for it, and college baseball, interacting with MLB, and seeing how those two things can kind of, call it melt or bridge together. I think it can be very, very beneficial to the game, especially since some of the minor league teams have been taken away. And also, especially since college baseball has risen in popularity so much. There is real star power. And the fan following has kind of matched that. And some of those guys are, you know, in the big leagues two months after they get drafted.”

For the rest of what he had to say click HERE.

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