In his eighth season on the Missouri coaching staff, Tony Vitello has been a part of the Tiger Baseball program for 10 years. He works primarily as the pitching coach, while assisting the hitters and serving as the first base coach. He is also the Tigers' recruiting coordinator.
Since Vitello joined the Missouri staff as a full-time assistant in 2004, the Tigers' ERA has consistently been among the best in the Big 12 Conference, highlighted by a 3.17 mark in 2005 and a 3.36 ERA in 2006. The 2006 ERA led the Big 12 and was 11th best nationally.
Last year, Kyle Gibson led the Big 12 with 131 strikeouts and was second in the league with 11 wins on the season. The 131 strikeouts tied the school record and the 11 wins was second most in Mizzou baseball history. Gibson was selected by Minnesota in the first round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft, joining former Tiger Aaron Crow as a first rounder selection in last year's draft. Gibson finished his career at MU with 28 wins and 304 strikeouts, which both rank second all-time at Missouri.
Crow, who was first taken ninth in the 2008 draft, was selected with the 12th overall pick by Kansas City in 2009. In 2008, Crow became the second MU pitcher in four years to be named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year. Crow, a first-team All-American, was also the recipient of the Clemens Award, which is given to the nation's top collegiate pitcher. He finished 2008 with a 13-0 record, setting a new school record for wins in a season, and had an ERA of 2.85.
During the 2008 season, Crow had a stretch of 43.0 scoreless innings pitched from Feb. 29-April 11. That was the fourth longest streak in NCAA D-I history. Another member of the Tigers' staff, Ian Berger, put together a string of 36.1 scoreless innings pitched from March 9-29. Crow and Gibson each earned All-Big 12 recognition in 2008 and Gibson was a First Team All-Big 12 selection in 2009.
In 2007, the MU pitching staff ranked fourth in the Big 12 with an ERA of 4.25. That staff included an All-Big 12 First Team selection in Crow and a second team honoree, Rick Zagone. Zagone earned Big 12 and National Pitcher of the Week honors after throwing a near no-hitter against Kansas State.
In 2006, the MU pitching staff recorded seven shutouts and held opponents to two or fewer runs in 19 of the 63 games. In the NCAA Regional, a pair of freshmen, Zagone and Crow, recorded back-to-back complete game victories, each allowing just one run on six hits, as Mizzou went on to claim the Malibu Regional Championship.
Vitello helped mold Max Scherzer into the 11th overall draft pick in the 2006 MLB Draft. Scherzer, the 2005 Big 12 Pitcher of the Year and one of the nation's top pitchers in 2005 and 2006, improved from an ERA of 5.85 as a freshman in 2004 to a dominate 1.86 in his sophomore season when he led the Big 12 in ERA, strikeouts (131) and opponents' batting average (.163). As a junior, Scherzer had a 2.25 ERA despite fighting injuries much of the season.
During the 2005 season, the Tigers had a stretch of 26-innings without allowing a run from March 14-19 after putting together a 23-scoreless inning stretch earlier that season. One of the most impressive pitching outings in recent history came against Texas Tech in April of 2005 when Missouri recorded the first no-hitter at MU since 1981.
Over the past four seasons, 16 Mizzou pitchers have been drafted in the Major League Baseball Draft, with seven of those 16 being selected in the top five rounds. In 2006, five Mizzou pitchers were taken in the draft with two drafted in the first four rounds.
As recruiting coordinator, Vitello has been instrumental in bringing some of the nations' top prospects to Missouri. The 2008 class was ranked among Collegiate Baseball's Top-20 recruiting classes and Baseball America voted the class the 11th best nationally. Three of the last four years have beenranked in Baseball America's Top 25.
Prior to joining the staff, Vitello was a three-year letterwinner for the Tigers, where he earned Academic All-Big 12 Conference accolades as a senior and was a two-time member of the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll.
Following his playing career and the completion of his management degree at MU, Vitello joined the Mizzou coaching staff as a volunteer assistant in 2003. He also completed his course work for his master's degree in business. The following season he was elevated to full time assistant coach.
He was a four-year letterwinner at DeSmet Jesuit High School in St. Louis, where he played for his father, Greg, who has coached at the school for 37 years.
Additionally, Vitello was the Associate Head Coach for the Salina Packers of the California Collegiate League in 2002. The Packers finished 50-14 and earned their first and only trip ever to the NBC World Series in Wichita, Kan.
