SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – MAY 24: Manager Tony Vitello of the San Francisco Giants speaks to media in the dugout before the game against Chicago White Sox at Oracle Park on May 24, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
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The San Francisco Giants suffered a loss to the division rival Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday, pushing them closer to the bottom of the National League West standings as rookie manager Tony Vitello has looked out of place.
After the team hired Vitello straight from the college ranks, with no big-league experience, he revealed clubhouse tensions, butted heads with the media and mismanaged the development of top prospect Bryce Eldridge.
“The Giants, who promoted first baseman Bryce Eldridge two weeks ago from Triple-A Sacramento, are utilizing their batboys more frequently than Eldridge,” Bob Nightengale pointed out for USA Today. “They called him up after a winless road trip, started him three consecutive games like every other team would with call-ups, but inexplicably, he’s being used like a 37-year-old journeyman third-string catcher… So, instead of getting his experience in the big leagues, or at least continuing his development in the minors, he sits.”
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Initially, it seems as if the inexplicable plan for Eldridge might have come from the front office, which might have wanted to dictate the development of the 21-year-old former first-round draft pick in a certain way.
But the Giants’ general manager, Zack Minasian, seemed to go out of his way to pinpoint the blame for the confounding Eldridge plan on the team’s rookie manager, even as scrutiny about the plan grows.
“The (Giants’) handling and usage of Bryce Eldridge is the decision of Tony Vitello,” The Athletic’s Jim Bowden, who is a former general manager for the Cincinnati Reds, reported on X. “GM Zack Minasian told me moments ago: ‘We are all in this together but the lineup decisions and construction is Tony’s call.’”
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Though Minasian noted that the team’s brass is working in concert, the statement underscored Vitello’s role in a day-to-day decision that is drawing criticism.
“As we’ve come to realize, every day with Eldridge is a tedious referendum on policy and timing,” as Bruce Jenkins put it for the San Francisco Chronicle. “There’s no clear answer for manager Tony Vitello, who knows that benching proven veterans can be clubhouse poison, but when Eldridge appears in just 10 games over a 17-day span (heading into the current homestand) with a .156 average, the ‘plan’ isn’t working so well.”
With Vitello in a tough spot on developing the future of the franchise as the team disappoints in the standings, it’s starting to seem as if the front office might not wholeheartedly defend his every move. And that could be the first step in a more dramatic change for the Giants.