Which Giants Executive Gets Credit for Floating Idea of Hiring Tony Vitello?

The San Francisco Giants didn’t come to the decision of hiring Tennessee coach Tony Vitello easily. But it started with an idea.

General view of a San Francisco Giants cap and glove during the ninth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

When it comes to assessing the hiring of new San Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello, it will take years to determine if it works or not. But, on Thursday, it became clear who will get the credit — or the blame.

Vitello was introduced to San Francsico media on Thursday, flanked by president of baseball operations Buster Posey and general manager Zach Minasian. One of them is the genius, or the guilty party, depending on your point of view.

So, who was it?

Who Started Ball Rolling on Hiring Tony Vitello

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During the press conference it became clear that Minasian was the one who first floated the idea of pursuing Vitello. Once Posey had some interest, the two met after the end of the American League Championship Series and the idea gathered real steam — once they finally connected.

"The unique thing about this process was, and it's one thing I've really come to appreciate about Tony. and honestly made me feel more confident in this decision, is he was hard to get ahold of because he was on the field all the time or he was bouncing city to city recruiting," Posey said to outlets including ESPN. "And just because this was on his plate, he was still full go with what his job was at Tennessee, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for that."

After the hiring, former Major League pitcher Shawn Kelley revealed that he may have had a role in connecting Vitello and the Giants. Kelley and another former MLB player, Jayson Werth, are partners in Icon Racing, which manages horses that run in Triple Crown stakes races.

During their podcast, Off the Rail, the pair revealed that another founder and partner in Icon is Jeff Berry, an Owensboro, Ky., native, former MLB agent and — since late last year — a special advisor to Posey.

If that’s the case, then the idea went from Minasian to Posey to Berry, who likely asked Kelley for an introduction, as Vitello has been on their podcast previously.

So, Minasian gets the credit for the out-of-the-box hire. Whether it works or not is up to Vitello, Posey and Minasian, the latter of which will make sure Vitello has what he needs to succeed.  

Vitello takes over the Giants after spending eight seasons at Tennessee, where he spent eight seasons rebuilding the Volunteers into one of the best baseball programs in NCAA Division I. That reached a zenith in 2024 when he guided Tennessee to 60 wins and the Men’s College World Series championship in 2024. He also took the program to the MCWS in 2021 and 2023. He also led the program to two SEC regular-season and tournament championships.

Before that, the collegiate infielder at Missouri was an assistant coach at Missouri, TCU and Arkansas.