Former Tennessee Baseball superstar Drew Gilbert will be reuniting with his collegiate head coach after the bombshell news that Tony Vitello is leaving Knoxville to be the manager of the San Francisco Giants. Gilbert and Vitello spent three seasons together on Rocky Top, winning two SEC Championships in the process.
Gilbert was selected by the Houston Astros with the 28th overall pick in the first round of the 2022 MLB Draft. He sat in the minors for a while until being traded to the New York Mets in the summer of 2023. Gilbert was then moved to the Giants at the trade deadline this past summer, alongside VFL and right-handed pitcher Blade Tidwell.
At long last, Gilbert made his official MLB debut on Aug. 8 in a home game with the Giants against the Washington Nationals. Gilbert went hitless at the plate in that game, but he did flash the leather with an incredibly impressive diving catch out in right field. It was a great sign of things to come for the prospect out of Tennessee.
WELCOME TO THE SHOW DREW GILBERT pic.twitter.com/l9Pz1JeodI
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) August 9, 2025
Gilbert played in 39 games with the Giants during his rookie season with San Francisco. He recorded 100 appearances at the plate and hit .190 with 19 hits, seven walks, 20 strikeouts, three home runs and 13 RBIs. Throughout his two-month stretch in the bigs, Gilbert made some huge highlight plays in the outfield and recorded some nice games at the plate as he got his feet under him.
His two best games of the season came on back-to-back days as the calendar flipped to September. On Aug. 31, in a 13-2 blowout win over the Orioles, Gilbert tallied three hits as he came up a home run away from recording a cycle in his rookie season. He got the single, the double, and the triple, but couldn’t quite get the last leg. Still, an impressive performance for someone just 24 years old at the time.
Drew Gilbert clears the bases‼️ pic.twitter.com/MymH89x3LJ
— SleeperSFGiants (@SleeperSFGiants) August 31, 2025
Then, the very next day in a game against Jordan Beck’s Colorado Rockies, Gilbert recorded a season-high four hits with two RBIs and three runs. He also notched a two-run home run on former Tennessee teammate Chase Dollander in the third inning.
Drew Gilbert homers off his former Tennessee teammate Chase Dollander 💣 pic.twitter.com/azyHA2NQrQ
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 1, 2025
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But while Giants fans were encouraged by what the rookie had done in his first couple of months, it was nothing compared to their love for his mad-dog mentality in the dugout as San Fran made a push for the playoffs.
Gilbert was routinely captured on camera going out of his mind to fire up his teammates, whether it be by biting on jerseys, slapping the dugout wall, getting choked out, or screaming at the top of his lungs.
The antics caught fire on social media as the world was introduced to the Drew Gilbert that Tennessee fans knew and loved well.
No words, just Drew Gilbert 😂 pic.twitter.com/zW7VxlBuLd
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) September 9, 2025
Gilbert’s enthusiasm even made it all the way to the Pat McAfee Show. The College GameDay host reacted to Gilbert’s antics on the week that GameDay was in Knoxville for the Tennessee-Georgia football game just a few weeks ago.
“This guy’s a Tennessee Volunteer? We need him on GameDay… Alright, Drew Gilbert’s one of my new favorite baseball players.” -Pat McAfee pic.twitter.com/EG29rW9ZUR
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) September 9, 2025
With Vitello and Gilbert now reunited, who knows what the limit can be for the former VFL as he continues to progress his way through major league development. It’ll certainly be something that Tennessee fans will be following as both Vitello and Gilbert wear a different shade of orange next season.
