Tony Vitello Grateful to Get First Real ‘Rep’ as Giants Manager

What a way for someone like Tony Vitello to make his Major League debut.

The San Francisco Giants manager had never logged a professional inning as a player, coach or manager before he stepped in the dugout to manage the Giants in their opening night game against the New York Yankees on Wednesday.

All the talk since he was hired in the offseason was of him potentially building a bridge for other college coaches to make the transition he's making now. His enthusiasm wasn't diminished after the Giants lost to the Yankees, 7-0. But he appeared grateful to finally have the first game out of the way.

“It’s kind of chaos once the game starts, so it’s good to have a rep of being in the dugout and having some of those conversations you have with coaches as the game is going on,” Vitello said to reporters after the game.

Tony Vitello’s First ‘Real Game’

For the past six weeks Vitello said that the priority was sticking to a plan during spring training games. That meant getting players in the game at certain times or giving players certain opportunities in certain situations to prove they should have a place in the team. It's managing to a degree, but it's nothing like the real thing. And it's certainly nothing like opening day.

He said San Francisco spent plenty of time planning for Wednesday's game, as all teams do during the hours leading up to a game. As he fielded questions after the loss, he made a timely analogy about explaining how the Giants lost to the Yankees.

“This wasn’t a March Madness game where we drew up the wrong play at the end or one guy missed a free throw at the end of the game or anything like that,” he said.

Giants players have supported Vitello throughout spring training. He's also earned praise from two former managers on his staff, including Ron Washington, who serves as the Giants infield coach. It's only one game, but third baseman Matt Chapman made sure to reiterate that support of their skipper after the loss.

“But the thing that Tony has been great with us is that he does bring a lot of energy,” Chapman said to NBC Sports Bay Area and other outlets. “He’s the same guy every day, and we’ll be ready to answer the bell on Friday.”

The Giants resume the season on Friday with a contest against the Yankees that starts at 1:35 p.m. Pacific. San Francisco left-hander Robbie Ray will make his first start of the season against New York Yankees right-hander Cam Schlittler.