A's manager Mark Kotsay finished sixth in AL Manager of the Year voting

Jason Burke | Nov 19, 2024

Sep 26, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Oakland Athletics manager Mark Kotsay (7) speaks to the crowd after the game against the Texas Rangers at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images / Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

Athletics manager Mark Kotsay received one vote in the American League Manager of the Year voting, a second place vote, which earned him a sixth place finish for the award. Former A's catcher and first-year Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt ended up taking home the honor.

Cleveland’s Stephen Vogt wins AL Manager of the Year, receiving 27 of the 30 first-place votes. Here’s the full vote: pic.twitter.com/6V8asi5Ye2

— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) November 19, 2024

Given that the A's finished with a well below .500 record in 2024 at 69-93, the fact that Kotsay received any votes is a touch surprising. Not because he doesn't deserve it, but because the award is generally decided by which surprising team made the postseason. That is essentially how the top three managers were picked in this year's voting, after all.

Yet, for those of us that were around Kotsay on a regular basis, the work that he has done with this club during a time of so much upheaval for the franchise has been very impressive. The A's lost 112 games in 2023 and Kotsay never lost the clubhouse. The Chicago White Sox ended up losing 121 games this season and their manager lost his job, and the clubhouse that we witnessed in Oakland didn't have the same vibes as the home side.

Kotsay has done a tremendous job with this young roster, building them up and being a resource for each and every player on the 26-man roster. He cares deeply about the players, and throughout the season a number of them spoke about how they could feel that connection with Kotsay.

Then you throw in the whole franchise relocation business and Kotsay being the main person to answer questions every day for the past two years since that planned move was announced, and the argument could easily be made that his job is harder than the other 29 managers around the league.

He hasn't had the luxury of a plug-and-play roster so that he can concentrate on the off-the-field issues. He's been evaluating talent, managing the games, and then being the mouthpiece for the organization thoughout the entire "Sell" movement. That's not an easy gig by any means.

While nobody was expecting him to win the AL Manager of the Year, it's impressive that someone out there saw the job that he has been doing and placed him second on their ballot. That someone just happens to be Steve Kroner of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Before long, perhaps as early as 2025, the A's will be in postseason contention and at that point the broader baseball world will get a glimpse of the work that Kotsay has been putting in since taking over ahead of the 2022 season. He's also likely to win Manager of the Year when that happens.