Guardians’ Stephen Vogt Endorsed By Fellow Offseason Managerial Hire
On Monday, the Cleveland Guardians announced Stephen Vogt as their 45th manager in franchise history.
They, however, were not the first team this offseason to fill a managerial vacancy.
The San Francisco Giants announced longtime MLB manager Bob Melvin as their new manager on October 25th.
These two offseason managerial hires share a connection. From 2013 through 2017, Vogt was a catcher for the Oakland Athletics, while Melvin was their manager.
Sep 28, 2016; Anaheim, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics catcher Stephen Vogt (21) is greeted at the dugout by Oakland Athletics manager Bob Melvin (6) after scoring a run in the first inning of the game against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
© Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
In a recent article, Cleveland.com Guardians beat writer Paul Hoynes writes about Melvin’s thoughts on Cleveland’s new manager.
In the article, Melvin says that he would have Vogt end team meetings to boost morale.
“He’s really good at lightening the mood and making it funny and inspiring. That’s just who he is. I wouldn’t even tell him what to do. Just give me two minutes at the end and he’d figure something out.”
Melvin also says Vogt has had managerial potential for a while now.
“Usually there’s separation between position players and pitchers. He’s adept at understanding and relating to both. He asked me questions during games about strategy that were on the advance side. And this was when he was just a player. I’ve had some guys, like Craig Counsell, that I’ve always felt that this guy has a chance to be a manager. I’ve always felt that about Stephen.”
The new Giants manager also discusses Vogt’s strong baseball mind and curiosity about analytics.
“He’s very curious. He’s smart on top of it. He’s got great baseball common sense. All those type of things, which are instinctive, are going to come pretty easy for him.”
With this latest managerial endorsement, along with previous ones from fellow MLB managers, it appears that Vogt is stepping into a position with Cleveland that he has been destined for.
