New SF Giants manager Tony Vitello recruited and developed a lot of future big league players while at the University of Tennessee. Coincidentally, a number of these players are currently in the Los Angeles Angels organization.
We know that Giants general manager Zack Minasian’s brother Perry is the president of baseball operations for the Angels so maybe the Tennessee and Minasian connection is enough to get a trade done.
The Giants already have several players in their organization who played under Vitello in college like Drew Gilbert, Blade Tidwell, who has impressed in spring training, and Gavin Kilen. Let’s take a look at three Angels players who played for Vitello at Tennessee.
3 former Vitello players SF Giants can poach from Angels
Ben Joyce
The Giants could use help in the bullpen, so why not reunite Vitello with a flamethrower who threw a pitch 105 miles per hour while in college, a feat he accomplished in 2024 with the Angels as well.
Vitello was asked about Joyce’s unlikely journey from being a scrawny high schooler to one of the fastest throwers of a baseball in the world and he said, “You could make a movie about it.”
Joyce had a great season with the Angels in 2024. In 31 appearances he had a 2.08 ERA in 31 appearances. Unfortunately, much of his career has been marred by injury and a shoulder injury limited him to five appearances last season.
If Joyce has a solid season and stays healthy and the Giants are in a position to trade for a reliever at the deadline, Joyce would make a ton of sense as a target.
Christian Moore
Moore played for the Vols from 2022 to 2024 and set a school record with 34 home runs in his final season. The Angels selected him with the eighth overall pick of the 2024 MLB Draft.
He’s put up some decent numbers in the minors but struggled in a brief stint with LA last season, slashing .198/.284/.370 with seven home runs and 16 runs batted in.
The Angels are high on him and hope he can be a key part of the future, but if the Giants sustain an injury or if they are looking for a guy who could potentially be the second baseman of the future then maybe they can try to land him at some point.
Nate Snead
Snead was a reliever for Vitello the last two seasons and his old skipper got to see him pitch in spring training this past week as he pitched a scoreless frame and struck a batter out.
He was taken in the third round last year by the Angels and is a young prospect so maybe the Giants could trade for him in a prospect-for-prospect deal if Vitello thinks he can cut it in the pros at some point.
Vitello’s Tennessee connection will be interesting to watch and the Angels have several former players of his so it would not be too surprising to see the teams work out a trade for one of these guys at some point.
