Giants set to embark on new era with Vitello at helm

This story was excerpted from Maria Guardado’s Giants Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The most interesting Giants rookie to watch on Opening Night won’t be on the field. He’ll be in the dugout.

Tony Vitello will make his managerial debut in Wednesday night’s 2026 opener against the Yankees at Oracle Park (5 p.m. PT, on Netflix), marking his official introduction to the big leagues. Vitello, who was hired out of the University of Tennessee in October, had six weeks of Spring Training to ease into his new gig, but he knows the intensity will ratchet up once the regular season begins.

“It’ll be completely different from Spring Training, as far as the pace and the circumstances,” Vitello said. “Even the crowds are bigger. So many external circumstances are different, but I do think baseball is going to be the same.

“Ready or not, here we come.”

Vitello won’t be the only new face on the Giants this year. The club also brought in second baseman Luis Arraez, center fielder Harrison Bader and veteran starters Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle over the offseason to supplement a core that already featured star infielders Rafael Devers, Willy Adames and Matt Chapman and ace right-hander Logan Webb.

San Francisco finished 81-81 in 2025 and has missed the playoffs in eight of the last nine years, but the club is hungry to show that it has the pieces to contend in the National League West this year.

“We got some new players in here, some new energy, so it should be fun,” Webb said. “We’ve just got to stick together. Guys that have been here for a little while can use the pain of the last couple years to our advantage and kind of try to learn from our mistakes.”

What needs to go right?

The bullpen needs to hold up. The relief corps remains the biggest question mark for the Giants, who traded away Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval last year and then lost All-Star Randy Rodríguez to Tommy John surgery in September. Ryan Walker hasn’t given up a run this spring and looks poised to reclaim the closer role, but the club will need more shutdown arms to emerge this year. Erik Miller should be part of the back-end mix if he’s healthy, but others like José Buttó and the newly signed Ryan Borucki must step up and show they can hold leads late in games, as well.

Great unknown

The Giants are taking a massive gamble on Vitello, who became the first college coach to be hired to manage in the Majors without having any prior experience in professional baseball.

Vitello will face a big learning curve as he adjusts to navigating a 162-game season and a clubhouse full of veterans for the first time, but the Giants believe his fiery energy and his track record of developing players at the University of Tennessee will help the club finally escape the .500 doldrums and emerge as a playoff contender this year.

“I think if anybody's prepared for it, I think it's that guy,” Webb said. “I think he's going to be ready for it. It'll be fun.”

Team MVP will be ... Matt Chapman

Chapman endured an up-and-down season at the plate after suffering a right hand injury that led to two stints on the injured list last year, but he crushed the ball this spring, batting .405 with a 1.259 OPS and three home runs in 15 Cactus League games. The five-time Gold Glove winner never slumps on defense, so if he can find a little more consistency with the bat, he should be even more invaluable for San Francisco in 2026.

Team Cy Young will be ... Logan Webb

Webb, the premier workhorse in the Majors, has drawn National League Cy Young votes in four consecutive years and isn’t showing signs of slowing down. After a successful stint with Team USA at the World Baseball Classic, Webb is as determined as ever to lead the Giants back into the postseason and make sure he gets another shot to pitch in October this year.

Bold prediction: Bryce Eldridge wins NL Rookie of the Year

Eldridge, the Giants’ No. 1 prospect per MLB Pipeline, will begin the season at Triple-A Sacramento, but he might force his way back to the Majors sooner rather than later. The 21-year-old slugger mashed a 381-foot, opposite-field home run against the Sultanes de Monterrey at Oracle Park on Monday night, showcasing the game-changing thump he could bring to San Francisco’s lineup this summer.