Whether University of Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello ends up managing the San Francisco Giants, a new twist has been added to the secretive world of managerial searches.
The best hires, or at least the most interesting, seem to be the most unexpected.
I don’t follow college baseball, but I know about Vitello because of his excellent commentary on draft nights for MLB Network.
Unlike the NFL and NBA, which have occasionally poached coaches from the college ranks, it’s not something that’s been done in major league baseball.
Occasionally, a team will add a coach from college, but never a manager.
The success the Milwaukee Brewers have enjoyed under Pat Murphy, a charismatic manager who coached at Notre Dame and Arizona State, might make it easier for Vitello—or someone else—to be taken seriously.
Murphy coached for 21 years before he worked for the San Diego Padres and earned his way to a big league job with the Brewers. This month, Murphy charmed the national media at pregame press conferences by asking first-time attendees to introduce themselves.
At 67, he’s two decades older than Vitello, who has a winning percentage of .722 and a national championship with the Volunteers. Vitello might help other prospective managerial candidates since his asking price is reportedly high.
The Orioles have pitching coach Drew French, and bullpen coach Mitch Plassmeyer who have college coaching experience.
The candidates for the Orioles’ job whose names have been tossed around have more traditional backgrounds.
It wasn’t long ago that it was an almost a prerequisite for a big league manager to have played in the majors.
However, the Orioles have ignored that. Neither Earl Weaver nor Buck Showalter, their two most successful managers, had big league experience, and four of their five most recent managers — Tony Mansolino, Brandon Hyde, Showalter and Dave Trembley — didn’t play in the majors.
At the end of the 2025 season, an unprecedented 11 managers hadn’t played in the majors.
While some managers had good playing careers in the majors, the Yankees’ Aaron Boone, the Dodgers’ Dave Roberts and the Cubs’ Craig Counsell, more had unspectacular careers.
That’s why the news that the Orioles might consider future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols came as a surprise.
Pujols, who had more than 3,000 hits and 700 home runs, is arguably the greatest first baseman in baseball history.
The old bromide that superstars don’t make good managers comes to mind, but few even try. Frank Robinson, the first Black manager in the majors, managed 16 years in the majors, including four seasons with the Orioles.
Robinson managed the 1989 Orioles, who won 89 games and nearly were the surprise winner of the American League East, a year after losing 107 games and their first 21 of the season.
Pujols, like Robinson, has managed in winter ball and is set to manage the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic next March.
The news that the Orioles were going to interview him didn’t come from president of baseball operations Mike Elias, who likes a quiet search.
Perhaps when the search is over, we’ll learn whom the Orioles did consider.
Another candidate whose name surfaced this week was former New York Mets manager Luis Rojas, whose brother Felipe Alou Jr. has long been in the Orioles’ organization. Rojas is currently the New York Yankees third base coach.
It’s nice to see Buster Posey, another likely Hall of Famer, think differently. The Giants’ president of baseball operations is one of a relative few in his position to have playing experience, and new ideas are always welcome.
Pujols has been linked with one of his former teams, the Los Angeles Angels, and there’s speculation his camp leaked the Orioles’ interest in him to convince the Angels to hire him.
That sort of tactic probably won’t help his case with the leak-averse Elias.
Vitello apparently rose on the Giants’ list when Nick Hundley, a former Orioles catcher, withdrew from consideration.
With eight jobs open, it will be fascinating to see how quickly they’re filled, and if any hires are announced before the start of the World Series on Friday.
Besides the Orioles, Angels and Giants, there are openings in Atlanta, Colorado, Minnesota, San Diego and Washington.
The Rockies’ job will probably be the final one open since they’re always interviewing for a general manager.
When Elias was asked on September 29th about his timetable for naming a manager, whether it’s Mansolino or someone else, he indicated it was pressing: “ASAP,” he said.
The Orioles have a busy November, December and January ahead of them, and perhaps we’ll soon know who potential free agents will be playing for in 2026 and beyond.
Call for questions: I answer Orioles questions most weekdays. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com.