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It’s easy to see why Buster Posey was so open to hiring Tony Vitello as the Giants’ next manager.

In his playing days, Posey lived and breathed winning. It’s what he was known for and what he preached. More than anyone else, he was the common denominator to the three World Series championships, calling pitches behind the plate, and crushing balls in the heart of the lineup. He was in the middle of it all, literally and figuratively.

That was a long time ago. The Giants have had one playoff appearance in nine years. They’re no longer the class of baseball. Not even close. Not even in their own division, where the Dodgers and Padres rule the world.

Those teams spend more. They draw more. They win more. And now, the Dodgers have a chance to win their second straight World Series title.

That eats at Posey, who remembers much better days at China Basin than the annual race to .500. He recalls parades, ring ceremonies, and conga lines of Buster Hugs. That’s all in the distant past, and Posey didn’t come out of retirement, join the ownership group and assume president of baseball operations duties to go 81-81-ish every year.

So Posey did something extreme. He hired the head coach from the most successful college program in the country, the University of Tennessee, and alerted the Dodgers, Padres, and rest of the baseball landscape that a new Giants era is underway with someone he thinks will help invigorate the franchise and put it more in line with the top teams in the majors.

In other words, playoff runs every year. At least most years.

“I think we’ve established a level of team chemistry that exists among the coaches and among the kids,” Vitello said in a podcast that was released Tuesday, called Youth Inc. with Greg Olsen, which is hosted by the former NFL tight end, “and combining those two, coaches with players, that has created some bonds that will last a lifetime.”

Vitello came off well on the podcast. He seems to have the right passion, energy and knowledge to take on this massive endeavor, and he certainly can nicely articulate his thoughts, desires, and motives.

Of course, no one will give a hoot if Vitello can’t adjust to big-league life, which assuredly will include growing pains and fumbles along the way. Make no mistake. This could be an unmitigated disaster. Vitello could lose the clubhouse, tick off the fan base, and make ownership second-guess the move. Posey is taking a huge risk but is willing to play it out. 

Ownership has accommodated Posey every step of the way with the record Willy Adames signing, stunning Rafael Devers trade, and unusual decision to exercise Bob Melvin’s option three months before firing the manager. Same with Vitello, who becomes the Giants’ fourth manager since 2019. Posey is banking on this one sticking around.

The podcast focused on youth sports, but Olsen got Vitello to branch out to other matters in his life. He said his father, Greg, a legendary high school baseball and soccer coach in St. Louis, was his inspiration for coaching: “It all came from my dad. His distaste for losing wore off on you whether you knew it or not. So you found yourself extremely competitive at a young age.”

Vitello turned a so-so program into a national power with the way he recruited (with hefty NIL resources), developed and ran a game in an intense, fiery, inspirational (and analytical) style. Yes, some of it was obnoxious and brash rah-rah stuff that would need to be toned down at the big-league level. We experienced it with Tennessee alum Drew Gilbert during his wildly energetic 39-game Giants stint. It’s cool and refreshing for a while, but it’s a stretch to believe it could be sustained over 162 games, especially with a .190 batting average.

At the same time, Vitello will encourage his players to be themselves and put their emotions and personalities on display.

“There’s a lot of downtime in baseball,” Vitello said on the podcast, “so personality shouldn’t just be encouraged. It’s kind of a requirement.”

He cited two major-league examples. First the 1993 Phillies of Darren Daulton, John Kruk, and Lenny Dykstra: “No coincidence they were winning. They had a lot of guys who had ability and confidence that came with it. But, holy cow, the personalities.”

Also the 2016 Cubs, who won their first World Series in more than a century: “That Cubs team finally coming over the hump was a bunch of guys saying, ‘Hey, love it or hate it, we’re the Cubs and we’re writing history this particular year.’ Joe Maddon I think unlocked a lot of those guys to be who they are as individuals.”

Vitello referenced his visit to Denver when the Giants were in town to play the Rockies late in the season. He wanted to see Gilbert and also said he got a chance to speak with a GM he didn’t name, presumably Posey, and came away with this conclusion:

“I think everyone’s suffering consequences all the way up to the big leagues where guys are super skilled but there’s less development, less coaching, less accountability,” Vitello said, “and, therefore, less understanding of how to play the game to win.”

That’s a powerful statement for someone about to manage a slew of accomplished professional ballplayers. On the other hand, Posey didn’t shy away during the season from sharing his displeasure for how his team at times wasn’t playing fundamental ball or properly doing the little things to win games.

That’s where Vitello supposedly comes in. Whether his messaging that worked with college kids will transfer at Oracle Park is anyone’s guess. Posey, who has the trust of the clubhouse and fan base, thinks it will. For now, that was enough to solidify the partnership.

The next step, besides building a coaching staff, is getting the veterans to buy in. Vitello needs to be convincing that he can help them reach their potential, turn them into winners, and be a big part of how they evolve.

On that front, it must be noted that Vitello was an assistant coach at Missouri when Max Scherzer pitched at the university, and they remain good friends. No doubt Vitello will try to recruit Scherzer – a free agent once his Blue Jays are done with the World Series – to San Francisco to slide into Justin Verlander’s rotation spot.

And help other Giants players get acclimated with the new manager.

“Max Scherzer is probably the best athlete I ever coached. Or the most accomplished, I’ll say that; I don’t need my tires slashed,” Vitello said. “Max, he’ll get mad at me because he thinks he’s always the best, but in high school, he was not. But he became that. In college, freshman year, he only got 20 innings for us. But he became so dominant and the best prospect. A lot of people probably don’t even know he played for the Diamondbacks because it wasn’t that great. Then he gets to the Tigers, Verlander’s technically the one. … Now he’s 41 years old and discovering different ways. 

“The word that comes to mind is ‘evolving.’ In every sport, it’s probably crucial, but I think more so in baseball because there are so many moving parts. And a pitcher like (Clayton) Kershaw might have to reinvent himself a little as his stuff goes down. But continuing to evolve in baseball is so important.”

The Giants have evolved in a major and unlikely way, and Posey turned to a college coach in Knoxville to lead the evolution.