Tony V

"Just spoke with tcu coach jim schlossnagle. As we reported early this afternoon, vitello is a done deal to tcu. Signed and delivered." (Kendall Rogers of Rivals.com on twitter)


■ The man behind the draft picks (Columbia Missourian, 6/9/09)

When Tony Vitello elected to transfer from St. Louis Community College to MU to play baseball, the expectations weren’t exactly high. His own father, who was also Vitello's high school baseball coach, called him a "little bit above average" baseball player.
. . .
As part of his dual responsibilities, Tony Vitello has helped attract and develop some of the nation’s premier pitching talent year after year, in spite of spending his Missouri playing career as an infielder.

“I don’t think it’s ever been much of an issue at all except for the fact that in recruiting battles, the opposing teams like to bring it up,” Tony Vitello said of his playing background. “Hopefully the numbers are there that now we can point to and say, ‘Hey, as a group, we coach our guys with success.’”
. . .
The polish Scherzer shows on major league mounds is a testament to his time under Vitello and others at Missouri according to Vitello’s father, who coached against Scherzer in a district game between DeSmet Jesuit High School and Parkway Central.

“He had that velocity that he still has right now, but it was uncontrolled,” Greg Vitello said. “His body language was horrible on the mound, and I think once he got to Missouri, with a little bit of direction, he really turned his qualities into a first class act. I’ve seen that happen to any number of pitchers on the Missouri staff.”
. . .
Missouri’s 35-man roster features 17 players from outside the state. Tony Vitello cites the recent success of the entire athletic program and “goofy connections” for helping expand Missouri’s reach.

He said recruits are getting tougher to read, although his background with pitching prospects can make the job a little bit easier.

“More and more, I feel like I have a little less power than I really think I do. Most guys find a match for what they’re looking for, whether it be a nice stadium or whatever,” Tony Vitello said. “If it happens to be they want to improve as a pitcher, kids on their own now are bringing up Max or Aaron, as opposed to us having to force feed it to them.”

■ Announcing his presence with authority (Columbia Tribune, 4/30/2010)

“None of the kids that have gone in the first round for us, or even the top five rounds, have ever dealt with that at all,” Vitello said. “They’ve all been kids who have developed.”

At least one still is working on it. Before this season, his third in the majors, Scherzer talked about improvements he’s continued to make on his offspeed pitches.

And that’s where Vitello will compare Tepesch to Scherzer. He’s still developing and will continue to improve long after his career at Missouri is finished.

“He’s a guy who gets better every day, who is nowhere near his ceiling right now,” Vitello said. “I think you turn on a TV four or five years from now and he’s pitching, you’re going to see a different look.”

■ Missouri pitchers selected in first round of MLB Draft (Columbia Tribune, June 9, 2009)

Vitello, who coached both pitchers, said that Crow needs to start pitching immediately, to work past his notorious slow starts, and that Gibson needs to fill out his tall, lanky frame.

“Both pitchers have a good work ethic," Vitello said. "They are also super talented, otherwise they would not have gone in the first round.”

■ Bulked up ace key for Tigers in tourney (Columbia Tribune)

Missouri pitching coach Tony Vitello knew the best way to get results out of then-freshman Kyle Gibson — the long and lean right-hander was not going to back down from a challenge.

So Vitello set up a running competition to see which of them could reach 200 pounds the quickest.

Gibson had an extra obstacle to overcome. He had the metabolism that you would expect a 6-foot-6, 168-pound youngster to have.

To not only put on that weight but to maintain it during a long, grueling season was not going to be easy. He lifted. He ate three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches a day. And it was a lot of work.

So of all the stats Gibson has collected during his three-year career at Missouri, his favorite is 40. He is now a solid 208, and he has bragging rights over his coach.

“I was at 190, and he was at 192, and he was always ragging me because he weighed more than I did,” Gibson said. “I just had to put him in silence, because he talks enough during practice.”

■ Missouri is home away from home for Tigers outfielder (Columbia Tribune,3/24/2008)

As a star pitcher and outfielder at Mayo High School in Rochester, Minn., Senne could have gone just about anywhere. Recruited by UCLA, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State and Stanford, along with Nebraska, Iowa and the home-state Gophers, among others, in a sport that is dominated by warm-weather teams, the Tigers were at a disadvantage. But when Missouri recruiting coordinator Tony Vitello came to visit, Senne listened.

“Prior to that, I knew nothing about Missouri,” Senne said. “I didn’t even know Missouri was in the Big 12, or had a big school or anything.”

■ Attack! Attack! Attack! (baseballprospectus.com)

While speaking to Max Scherzer not too long ago I learned about his interest in statistics and sabermetrics. His interest began while pitching at the University of Missouri when pitching coach Tony Vitello stressed the importance of “A3P percentage.” Attack in three pitches, as explained by the Diamondbacks flamethrower, refers to a pitcher retiring a batter within three pitches, or having two strikes on him following the delivery of the third pitch. As an evaluative tool, it helps pitchers focus on getting ahead, and improves their aggressiveness on the mound.

According to Max, the results were cut and dried: regardless of “stuff,” those with the highest A3P percentage were the most effective pitchers. He experienced these results firsthand as his collegiate numbers and success improved as his “attack percentage” increased. Intrigued by this idea, I decided to investigate whether or not it held true at the major league level in any way.

■ Lest we paint the departing Vitello as Saint Anthony, we should keep him humble by bringing up "The Grab", early in Vitello's career as a first base coach, as Title slips away (Columbia Missourian, 5/31/2004)

James Boone had five RBIs, including the apparent grand slam that turned into a single after the coach’s interference call. He was involved in another strange scoring play after a two-run single in the first.

After three straight walks in the third, Boone hit a ball into the left-field seats. As he was about to round first, though, coach Tony Vitello grabbed him to keep him from passing another runner. While he never past the other runner, Boone was ruled out. He was credited with a three-run single and Missouri led 6-2.

“I don’t hit too many home runs, so I wasn’t jogging out of the box. I was watching the ball,” Boone said. “Unfortunately, that run could have cost us the game.”

Everyone knows that Tony Vitello, the Mizzou ballplayer, was known as a team leader, but was not among the leaders in numbers . . .

. . . or was he?

■ Tigers set records in winter testing (mutigers.com, 12/8/2000)

And do you know what Tony Vitello majored in as a young undergraduate?

■ University of Missouri senior Tony Vitello, a graduate of DeSmet High, was named to the Academic All-Big 12 Baseball Team. The Florissant resident, who is majoring in general agriculture, was named to academic second-team for players with grade point averages of 3.0-3.19. (StL Post-Dispatch, 5/20/2002)