PITTSBURGH — There’s a wall of framed photos in the visiting manager’s office at PNC Park. They depict every current manager at a younger stage in their life. For most of them, it’s an action shot from their major-league playing career. For others, it’s a picture of them managing in the minor leagues.Tony Vitello is on the far left, second row from the bottom. He’s clean-shaven, bat perched on a shoulder, the brim of his University of Missouri ballcap bent into a proper trucker’s bill.“Do not take a picture of that picture of me on the wall,” Vitello said with a laugh. “It’s a pretty bad one. They did me a little dirty right there. The forearms do look bigger, though.”In many ways, Vitello is still that walk-on player at Missouri, the one who could’ve lost his place on the team at any moment, whose staying power was rooted in showing up on time, being willing to outwork the next guy, who sometimes let his insecurities get the better of him but stubbornly refused to let anyone else’s opinion add to them.Those unflattering opinions are everywhere these days. The San Francisco Giants are 58-83 and guaranteed their fifth consecutive season with a non-winning record — the first time that’s happened in franchise history — and their dugout boss is the first major-league manager in more than a century to be hired from the college ranks with no professional playing or coaching experience.When Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey offered Vitello the job, he took it fully aware that, spoken and more often unspoken, many people around the game would be rooting for him to fail. They didn’t like the fact that he skipped the line, in their view, or that his $3.5 million salary exceeds most of his managerial cohort even though he’s an entry-level hire in terms of pro experience. The most visible manifestation of that contempt this season has come from a handful of interactions with umpires who delivered quick ejections followed by a personal comment or two. Giants special assistant Ron Wotus considered Vitello’s first-inning ejection by umpire Alan Porter last Friday so unfair that he got kicked out the following day while exchanging lineup cards.If some umpires have treated Vitello differently than other managers, then that’s a poor reflection on them for betraying their impartiality. In terms of job performance, though, it’d be hard for anyone to argue that Vitello has added value in his first season. The Giants have played sloppy and unfocused baseball for most of the season. They’ve made curious in-game moves. Their roster hasn’t been nearly strong enough to contend, which is not the manager’s fault. But it’s fair to wonder how much of their 12-25 record in one-run games reflects on their inexperienced coaching staff.Their manager has not been the firebrand from the University of Tennessee that everyone expected. Perhaps the team’s poor start caused everyone to cower, Vitello included. It’s only now, with most of the Opening Day lineup on the injured list and a wave of minor leaguers filling out the roster, that Vitello is appearing to loosen up and say what’s on his mind.I wanted to know a lot more about what was on Vitello’s mind as he entered the final month of his first pro season. Whenever a Giants season goes off script, which has been more often than not in the past decade, I’ve sought out Bruce Bochy or Bob Melvin in a quieter road city for a wide-ranging chat to take stock of what went wrong, what could’ve been done differently, and what, if any, lessons were learned. Vitello, whom Posey has confirmed will be back for the second year of his three-year contract, will need to apply many of those lessons in short order next season.Vitello would be the first to admit that he isn’t the most efficient sound bite. He’s a referential communicator who tries to make a meaningful connection through stories and analogies, which sometimes means that he’ll come to his point only after circling the wagons. But this interview only required light editing for brevity and clarity. Vitello answered all my questions and spoke in a soft and thoughtful voice.He had a helpful touchstone to keep him centered, too. Several times during our half-hour conversation, he glanced at that picture on the wall.Before the season began, one topic that kept coming up was how you’d handle not just playing more games but losing more games, which even the best teams will do a third of the time. Unfortunately, it’s a skill you’ve had to practice often this season. In eight years at Tennessee, your teams lost just 85 SEC games. The Giants have lost almost that many games already. How has that process gone for you?Yeah, it’s been hard. How do you bounce back from an error, bad pitch, bad game, a close (13-12) game you lose (Tuesday) night? I mean, that’s what the sport is almost built on — how you bounce back, and obviously, it’s a little easier to do it when you have a higher success rate. But also, the over-and-over-and-over will challenge you. So, it’s been difficult, but whether it’s this level or (college), I’ve had the good fortune of being around a lot of really good coaches when I was younger because of my dad and then guys I played for. I think I’ve got a decent sense of, “Did I do my part or not?” It’s not to say at the end of the game I’m looking for like, “Who’s the most to blame?” It’s going to be impossible for everybody to leave this locker room and be flawless tonight.For me, the biggest thing is once the fire calms down from a game, there’s more learning points for me than in the past. It’s just different. You got wood bats. Everybody can do damage. There’s managing what you have in the bullpen and stuff like that. Like any player, I want to have a good night, too. And sometimes we win by three runs, and I didn’t think I had a good day, and I’m just as hard on myself as I was in the past. But the difference is, it’s over and over and over and over and over again.What’s been your release or outlet or strategy to be able to start fresh every day?I hear you on that. When you’re in college, your workout often is practice. I’d burn God knows how many calories just throwing BP and doing flips in the cage. Well, now we have so many guys that do that, and we don’t practice. So you’ve got to take care of your body a little bit. Got a decent routine with that. But to answer your question, I think it’s just the people. Whether it’s Wash (infield coach Ron Washington), who’s always out on the field early, or just bumping into people, they remind you that you’re not in the fight alone, and also it’s not all about you, so don’t be making it that way.Tony Vitello hasn’t had nearly as many opportunities to work out with his team as he did during his time in Tennessee. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Getty Images)If you had to pick one person who you’ve leaned on the most for counsel or just someone to talk to this season, who would that be?Someone you don’t know. Luke Cassis, a former teammate at Missouri. Do not take a picture of that picture of me on the wall in a Missouri uniform, by the way. It’s a pretty bad one. They did me a little dirty on that one. The forearms look bigger, though. Yeah, teammate there, coached with him, someone who’s outside the circle. But if you’d say a Giants person, it’s pretty well balanced. I’ve got familiarity with Q (director of performance Quentin Eberhardt) and (director of pitching) Frank (Anderson), and then I played with (bench coach) Jace (Tingler). Wash has been awesome. Sometimes he’ll come to me before I go to him. And I’ve utilized all four guys (front office executives Buster Posey, Zack Minasian, Jeremy Shelley and Paul Bien), and they could not be more different. That provides a nice buffet to choose from depending on the topic. It’s been nice visiting with them.And then probably the most emotional moment I’ve had all season is with Wo (senior advisor Ron Wotus), and you can do the math on that. He’s someone I clicked with right away. Maybe the Italian thing, maybe not. But he’s someone since spring training (who) has been real good to have just real honest conversations. And the one thing about those convos is when they’re over with, I always feel like I’m centered. He forces you to be centered and rational, and that doesn’t always mean sunshine or rainbows, but he’s pretty good at that.It’s probably fair to say that no manager could have won with a roster that hasn’t been strong enough this year, whether that’s due to injuries or underperformance or free agents who haven’t worked out. But obviously, the results are going to reflect on you. Managers always get more credit and more blame than they deserve. How do you look at it? Do you think this season has been a fair test of your abilities?Yeah. I mean, it’s been a relentless test. It’s kind of come in chapters. What’s going on right now couldn’t be more different than what was going on at the beginning of the season. So it depends on what chapter you’re looking at. But I’ve always been a big believer that everyone has a different role in the movie, and (if) one of us doesn’t do well with our part, the movie’s going to suffer. So I’m good with it. I’ll take the brunt of that. I agree with what you’re saying. There’s been some things that would have been challenging for any manager to handle or to have success on a given day. And you could flip it the other way, too. But I’m in charge, so …Has it been tough for you to enjoy this?No. Just maybe not as much as you would want. It’s kind of funny. You flip it the other way, and you might think you’re robbing a bank. I will say that I think the whole “earning your stripes” thing is bulls—. I’ll just be honest with you, every now and then, if your confidence is shaken, if you argue with an umpire or something like that, (it helps to be reminded that) not a lot of people could do what I did (at Tennessee), and certainly not for as long as I did and as dedicated as I was. It’s lonely and it’s challenging and it’s f—ing stressful. Like, a game like (Tuesday) night is stressful and it goes fast and all that, but ain’t even close to a kid calling and saying, “I just got drafted. I’m not coming.” You throw everything at it, you don’t know if a kid’s coming or not, or whether you offered them the right amount of money and stuff like that, all while you’re trying to play and practice too.Tony Vitello steered the Tennessee Volunteers to the College World Series three times and led the school to its first national championship in 2024. (USA Today Network via Reuters Connect)So to go back to my point, there are some stripes that I do need to earn. Like, you got to go through some s—. You’re not just going to just come in and turn it into Tennessee or LSU or whatever it might be. So maybe I feel like I’m robbing a bank, but if it’s gonna go rough at some point, you’d rather it be the foundation and the start of something.Did the team’s rough start keep you from being the kind of person you want to be in this job?I think a little bit. I think it’s been easier for me to be myself the deeper the season’s gotten. I assume people predicted (the Giants would be a) contender on paper; we added some guys, it’s Rafi’s (Rafael Devers) first full year, new vibe, and spring training was so good. I think everyone deep down felt we’re gonna take the world by storm, and when we didn’t right out of the chute, it put everybody on their heels, and I’d be guilty of that too. So that ultimately, I think, answers the question.It’s a younger team now. Whether that’s a factor, or just having most of the season under your belt, are you feeling more relaxed or settled into this now?Yeah, I do. I just think there are so many things you don’t know until you experience it. You can ask someone like Tony LaRussa all you want, but it’d be like you’ve gone skydiving and I haven’t. You can describe it to me — did you get nervous, did you count to three — and you can tell me what the view looks like. But until you actually see it …How did you know I’ve gone skydiving?S—, you’re crazy. I don’t want any part of that.You should try it sometime. But let’s get back down to earth. Some managers are detail-oriented, to the point of being obsessive about them. Others are big on delegating to their staff. What camp do you fall into?I think I fall into someone who wants to be responsible for my success or failure. And then I started to figure out in old jobs who could I trust, whether it’s recruiting, which I didn’t ever want to give up an ounce of that, to other things that would trickle down. Here, that’s been one of the learning processes. To be honest with you, I was hiding in the corner there (in his office) from everybody earlier today and was writing down a running list of (information) that I would want in-game. Not to say anyone has been lazy or doing it wrong. I do think I’m detail-oriented, and when I reflect on when I first started coaching (at Tennessee), I wanted to be that way but I didn’t know. You kind of had to learn first where the adjustments needed to be made.On the last home stand, you pointed to your head and said that “we need to get better here.” What did you mean by that and what form do you want that to take?By that I mean mentality and mindset. It’s funny, I don’t look at much social media stuff, but my phone knows that I like Leo Messi, and I’ve seen his comments a few times. He always mentions the word “calm,” which, if you’re going to a Steelers game, no one is going to say the word “calm” when they’re coming out of the tunnel to take on the Eagles or whoever it might be. But he always mentions it, and I think there are a lot of moments in the season, whether it’s in the dugout or on the field, you have to be calm under pressure. And in certain situations, you’ve got to have a plan. You can’t just leave it up to chance. And then, reacting to chaos, whether it’s on the road, loud fans, or s—‘s going wrong. I mean, you’ve seen it. It’s not just our team. It’s any baseball team in history. One thing goes wrong, and then two or three other things go wrong. The biggest challenge is moving on to the next thing. Pitchers are the best example because they’ve got the ball in their hand to make the next pitch. But I would also apply it to defense or offense. We don’t make a play, or it’s a bad call from an umpire, just be dialed into the next pitch. That’s why it was on my mind.If you could go back to Opening Day and start over, what would you do differently?I think … I did see the runway. I mean, I know it’s 162 games. But I’d see the length of the season a little bit more as opposed to you, you know, “It’s Opening Day, it’s Netflix. You got the day off the next day.” It’s like this is the Super Bowl, and it’s not. In fact, I kind of laugh at myself now when I think about seeing it that way. But I try to look at both sides, and if I wanted to beat myself up about that, the angel on my left shoulder would say, “Well, hang on, what team in Major League Baseball needed to get off to a good start? It’s the Giants, hands down.”Why’s that?Credibility. Because we know what all the storylines were (with his hiring). Ultimately, credibility leads to belief. My favorite teams (at Tennessee) weren’t necessarily the most talented, but everybody believed in each other and believed in what they’re trying to do and believed they can win. It makes for a good work environment.One thing that has changed from early in the season is using your bench more. Obviously, you started the season with a set lineup of everyday players. But do you wish you used your bench more earlier?A little bit? I think you would have to say yes, but also, we’re chasing wins right out of the chute. With the expectations and also what we’re trying to accomplish, it’s not that easy to say, “We’ll just make a great run in the second half.” So I think a lot of it had to do with the roster. A lot of it had to do with the way I’ve always coached. At Tennessee, we got (criticized) for letting our guys play too much. I’ve always let guys play. The difference is, we created a foundation there for guys. We knew who they were. We got all that practice time. It’s like you’re training the dog and then you let it off the leash. But these (big leaguers) are guys who are fricking accomplished. I didn’t want to be accused of trying to mix and match too much because we’re seeing a lefty or a righty and doing all kinds of crazy hit-and-run stuff when we had, on paper, the ammunition to beat whoever we were playing.“Maybe my own expectations early in the season were a little too crazy,” Tony Vitello said. (Chris Coduto / Getty Images)Have we seen the real you yet?(Laughs) Umm, glimpses of. First of all, I don’t want to oversell. There’s no whole new strategy that’s going to pop out of my head and win us seven games in a row. I’m not going to do any crazy dancing or anything. But I would say glimpses of. I’d rephrase the question as, “If it works out the way that I want, and I’m damn sure not talking about wins or losses, what does it look like on the field? Have we seen that?” Not yet. Not yet.What is that going to look like?Well, I hope it’s a good match for San Francisco, because I’ve known for a long time that Giants fans are unique and they appreciate execution and fundamentals as much as they do a big blast. Whether it’s on the coaching part or the fundamental part, you want to play the game with an approach that you could take to the casino because it’ll work more often than not. And then on the attitude and mentality side, like (Tuesday night when the Giants erased a six-run deficit), we won’t go away, we’ll fight, we’ll compete, we’re not scared.What do you already know will be different next year about how you approach this job?The offseason, regardless of what goes on (with an impending lockout). Last (winter), I wasted some time that I now know how to utilize and what to prepare for. Last time it was chaos with putting together the staff and then meeting people and getting to know people. So offseason, one, and then spring training, definitely different. Rather than being in observation mode and being like, “Let me know how you want this to go,” I’d rather control everything. Whether it’s the schedule, the routines, the games, we’re going to do it how I like to do it. So those things stand out because they come first. But next season, playing the long game would be the big thing. People might be hard on me about that, but nobody’s harder on me than myself. Maybe my own expectations early in the season were a little too crazy. Maybe we needed more even waters.What did Buster Posey’s public vote of confidence mean to you?Didn’t know it until it was brought up to me. I’d parallel it to Webby (Logan Webb) having (Blake Tidwell’s) back and my back in the game the other day. It meant a lot. We already knew that, didn’t change anything, but it still means a lot. Just like I already knew where I stood with (Posey). Very transparent. We’re on the same page. Communication is on the same level. We’ve got each other’s back.You could always go back to a college program. Why is it important for you to keep at this?It’s why you take on athletics, at least for me. It’s to find out what you can do. Like that picture there. I was told at Missouri — they let me walk on because of my dad — that literally any day we might tap you on the shoulder and tell you, you don’t need to come back. They were probably thinking it would be about a week.So as much as Tennessee made it look like (I) always won and all that stuff, I like that reputation (as a grinder) over the other. Whether it’s in the neighborhood boxing older kids, or fighting just to be on the best teams, I’ve gotten my ass kicked a lot, and I kept pushing forward. I wanted to quit baseball for a time. I didn’t. There were times in recruiting, one year in particular, I was like, “This is too hard. I’m going to quit and do something else.”But it’s always worked out for me to push through it. So that’s what I’m gonna do. I guess even if there’s not enough wins on the other side of it, the peace of mind will be a big win for me.