How Steven Vogt went from an 0-for-32 rookie to a big league manager
-
Tim Kurkjian, ESPN Senior Writer
IT IS OPENING Day 2017. Stephen Vogt, the Oakland A’s multi-talented, multi-dimensional, multi-personality catcher, was asked to perform something on tape that could be played on TV before his first at-bat that day — ideally, his hysterical rendition of Chris Farley’s riotous “In A Van Down By The River” skit from “Saturday Night Live.”
“That’s just for my teammates,” he said. “But I’ll sing something for you.”
So, in full uniform, only hours before the first pitch of the season, Vogt sang from three Disney songs, led by a heartwarming diddy from “The Little Mermaid.” It was played before his first at-bat of the game, and seconds later, he hit a home run.
From “Under The Sea” to over the fence.
From Ariel to aerial.
That moment, that day, captures who Stephen Vogt is. He is so secure in himself, so comfortable in his own skin. He is meticulously prepared, and “obsessively observant,” according to former teammate Elliot Johnson — traits that will be critical for a major league manager. He has tremendous communication skills, the most important attribute of today’s manager. And Vogt is relentless: He did not get a hit in his first 32 at-bats in the major leagues, yet found his way to two All-Star teams. This is why the Cleveland Guardians named Vogt, age 39 with no managerial experience on any level, to replace the irreplaceable Tito Francona as their manager.
“Within five minutes of our first Zoom call with him, we got the overwhelming feeling that he would make a great manager — five minutes,” Guardians general manager Mike Chernoff said. “Even though he had only coached for one year [2023 with Seattle], he already had a managerial philosophy in place. He walked us through it, and it was obvious that he would be great. And every reference call we made, we heard the same thing, like, ‘I only knew him for one year in A-ball, but I knew he would be a great manager.”’
It’s a sentiment echoed by plenty of Vogt’s former teammates.
“He is the perfect storm of knowledge and awareness and he just got done playing at a very high level,” Jerry Blevins said. “He checks all the boxes. He is all-of-the above.”
“The baseball gods single out their guys before they are even born,” former teammate Dallas Braden said. “And they picked Vogter. We all knew he would be a great manager.”
“It’s like he has been doing this for 10 years,” said Guardians catcher Austin Hedges. “His first speech to the team this spring was incredible. The energy in the room is amazing.”
“Vogter is one of the greatest teammates I’ve ever had,” said Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy. “He has all the makings to be a Hall of Fame manager.”
IT IS SPRING training in 2012 in Port Charlotte. Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon organized a talent show.
“That put Stephen on the map,” said Johnson, then a utility man for the Rays. “He was in minor league camp. I had no idea who he was. No one had ever heard of him. He was one of the last acts. He killed it. He did impersonations [of Maddon, farm director Mitch Lukevics and coach Matt Quatraro]. Everyone was dying laughing. He won the pot. He probably went home with $2,000. The rest of that spring, when we needed someone from minor league camp to come over, we’d say, ‘Let’s bring that Vogt guy over so he can do impersonations for us.”’
Sure enough, Maddon routinely brought him over to big league camp.
“I had a couple of conversations with him that spring and thought, ‘My God, this guy would be perfect on any team,'” Maddon said. “I got a whiff of his humor. He did this impersonation of me where he rides in on his bicycle wearing a Rays jacket and glasses. He gets a fungo and puts it under his one leg and crosses over like I do. Then he starts talking using big words. We’d bring him over in the morning, we would have a huddle before our workouts, and he would rock it every time.”
Giants manager Bob Melvin was one of Vogt’s managers with the Oakland Athletics. “The hardest part of every meeting is, ‘How does it end?”’ Melvin said. “You just clap and say, ‘Let’s go.’ Our meetings always ended with Vogter. Levity. Funny. He is the perfect way to end a meeting.”
The “Van Down By The River” skit is among Vogt’s famous impersonations; he even provides his own table that collapses when porky, dorky motivational speaker Matt Foley falls on it.
“I still have that clip on my phone,” former teammate Sean Doolittle said. “I watch it all the time.”
The communication skills, the importance of inclusion, the sense of humor, the fearless ability to perform and entertain all come from the influence of Vogt’s parents, Randy and Toni. They insisted that Stephen and his brother, Danny, do more than sports. Stephen played the trumpet, sang in the choir and did several school plays.
“My mom said we needed to be involved in music because it allows you to appreciate everything,” Vogt said. “Music was a big part of our family. I sing all the time. What I miss most is singing with the choir. There is no pressure greater than singing a solo. Everyone’s parents are watching. Being in a church play, public speaking and performing allows you to tune out the audience and really just focus on what you’re supposed to be doing.”
How did his high school baseball and basketball teammates react to him being in the school plays?
“Obviously, I got made fun of, but not too bad,” Vogt said. “It was the person I was raised to be. People are into different things, that doesn’t make one weird. I had a teacher tell me once years after high school that I made uncool things cool. That was such a really neat compliment. Everything is awesome in your own way. Being able to put on your drama hat and go put on your baseball hat, your basketball hat, your student government hat relating to everybody and being able to interact with everybody is super important.”
Johnson sees another way that Vogt’s impressions impacted the way he played — and the way he’ll manage.
“He pays attention,” Johnson said. “When you can do voices and mannerisms, it shows being observant. Vogter was always locked in. He will be [the same] as a manager. When he talks to his players, he will already know everything about them. If someone is too high, too full of himself, he can bring that guy back to center. If someone is too low, he can bring him back up. Great clubhouse guy, secure human.”
“He has an innate ability to make everyone around him more comfortable,” Doolittle said.
That will be more important than ever as a manager.
“It’s being able to read your teammates and read the room,” Vogt said. “There are times when the tension gets really high over the course of six months. There are times when we are down as a team. The guys need to laugh. If you’re not smiling and laughing on the baseball field, you’re not going to play your best. For three hours a day we get to be 12-year-old kids again. If you lose that perspective, not many are good enough to overcome that.”
IT IS SPRING training 2024 with the Guardians. Stephen Vogt is wandering the field wearing uniform No. 12, carrying a fungo bat and observing, missing nothing. Matt Foley and the Disney balladeer are inside him, but as Muncy said, “once the game starts, it’s all about winning.”
Doolittle said, “He is one of smartest players I ever played with. He’s not a goofball. I would sit next to him on planes. When everyone else is playing cards, he’s doing his homework.”
“He is always asking questions,” Blevins said. “All the smart people I’ve been around ask the most questions. He would get into your head. He’d ask me, ‘You shook this, why did you want to throw that?’ I’d answer his question, and the next time he’d adjust.”
“We learn from failure,” Vogt said. “No one learns from success. And Lord knows I’ve had enough failures.”
Vogt was drafted by the Rays in the 12th round in 2007 out of Azusa Pacific College. He finally got to the big leagues in 2012. “He was always a good hitter,” Maddon said. “But I kept hearing in the meetings that he was going to be a 2-A or 3-A player. His defense was substandard. He heard all those things, too. He was very motivated.”
He went 0-for-25 in his first year with the Rays, then was sold to the A’s, where he went hitless in his first seven at-bats. That’s 0-for-32: the fourth longest hitless streak by a position player to begin a career in the expansion era (1961-on), trailing only Vic Harris (0-36 in 1972), Lou Camilli (0-34 in 1971) and Chris Carter (0-33 in 2012).
“I don’t know how I got through that,” Vogt said. “That was tough. You reach your dream of making it to the major leagues and then you go home 0-for-25. You have to look everybody in the eye. You’re giving hitting lessons and you’re wondering if the kid and parents are asking, ‘Why are letting this guy give our kids hitting lessons? The guy can’t hit.”’
But in 2015 and 2016, Vogt made the All-Star team with the A’s — and became one of the most popular players at the club. “When he was catching in Oakland, I’d come to the plate and sing what everyone sings in Oakland: ‘I believe in Stephen Vogt,”’ Hedges said. “We’d be laughing. Great banter. I’d have to say to him, ‘Hey Vogter, I got to get locked in here. This is a great conversation, but I’m trying to get a hit off your guy.”
Vogt was waived by the A’s in 2017, then played for the Milwaukee Brewers, San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks and the Atlanta Braves, where he won a World Series ring in 2021.
As far back as A-ball, Vogt wanted to be a coach. After watching Melvin manage, he determined that he might be able to do that job someday. “A lot of things suggested that he would manage,” Melvin said, “but mostly, it was his interaction with me. The questions he asked me. Things you don’t get from a lot of players. He was not afraid to ask. Very inquisitive.”
It was with Milwaukee, where he was injured and couldn’t play, that he became certain about his career path. Then-Brewers manager Craig Counsell and general manager David Stearns “allowed me behind the curtain” to understand free agency, the draft, the whole process, Vogt said.
“I’ve been building for this for a long time, writing managerial philosophies in notebooks,” Vogt said of his job in Cleveland. “I’m in a great spot here. There is help everywhere. I need help. We have 200 years of coaching experience on this team. When I got here, we went to 201.”
It helps that Vogt was an active player only two years ago. He has never left the game; nothing has passed him by.
“He already knows exactly what that player is feeling because he constantly has the pulse of everyone around him,” Braden said. “He will relate to the 26th guy on the roster exactly the same way as he will relate to the star of the team. It takes a special set of skills to do that. He knows what it takes to get the best out of everyone, every day. And in this analytics world in the big leagues, that skill is more important than it has ever been. He nails it.”
The last player to become a manager only two years after retirement was Larry Bowa in 1989. Vogt’s final day in the major league was his most memorable.
“It was Oct. 4, the last day of that [2022] season,” Braden said. “He has already announced to the world that he is retiring. I go down to the bullpen before the game. Stephen Vogt straps on the gear and does a pre-game, ball-blocking drill. He is never going to put shin guards again in his life, and what does he do? He gets his early work in so he could set the right example for everyone. It is always about doing the right thing.”
In the final at-bat of his career, Vogt’s three children, Payton (now 12), Clark (9) and Bennett (6), announced his name over the public address system at the Oakland Coliseum.
And, of course, as he always does in the biggest moments, he hit a homer.
“To hear your kids’ voices, them saying, ‘Now batting, our dad,’ it still makes me emotional,” Vogt said. “It was an incredible moment. The kids were like ‘Dad, no way, I can’t believe you did that!”’
Actually, with Stephen Vogt, and only Stephen Vogt, it is believable.
-
Kristen Shilton, ESPN NHL reporter
TORONTO — Star center Auston Matthews did not finish Saturday night’s Game 4 because of an illness, as the Toronto Maple Leafs fell 3-1 to the Boston Bruins.
Toronto now finds itself on the brink of elimination in its first-round playoff series, with a must-win Game 5 on Tuesday in Boston.
Coach Sheldon Keefe previously confirmed Matthews played through an illness in Game 3, and Matthews had been absent from multiple team sessions while recovering. It was more of the same in Game 4 when Matthews logged 14:16 in ice time before not returning after the second intermission.
“It is all related to the illness he’s dealing with,” Keefe said, responding to a reporter’s question on why Matthews didn’t return for the third period. “The doctors pulled him.”
Matthews was Toronto’s hero in Game 2, scoring the game-winning goal and notching two assists to lift the Maple Leafs to a 3-2 victory.
It was the Bruins again taking it to Toronto early Saturday. Boston jumped out to a 1-0 lead off James van Riemsdyk‘s opening goal to enter the second period ahead 1-0, and it quickly added to its lead with a power-play goal from Brad Marchand. David Pastrnak collected another with 41 seconds left in the middle frame to afford Boston a 3-0 advantage going into the third.
Toronto has now lost six straight playoff games at home, a streak dating to the 1970s, and has been outscored 21-11 in that stretch of home contests. The Leafs have also scored three or fewer goals in 11 consecutive postseason tilts to date.
Emotions were visibly boiling over for Toronto on the bench in Saturday’s loss, with cameras capturing Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander — back in the lineup after missing the series’ first three games with an undisclosed injury — exchanging verbal barbs.
“We’re grown men,” Marner said of their exchange. “We’re just talking about plays out there that we all want to make sure we’re 100% on. Just a little off page there. We’re not yelling at each other because we hate each other. We just all want to be on the same page and help each other out.”
Marner was the lone goal scorer for Toronto when he broke through with his first of the playoffs to cut Boston’s lead to 3-1 in the third period. That was all Toronto could muster, though, offensively. The Leafs’ power play continued to misfire and finished 0-for-3 in Game 4, to put them 1-for-14 on the man advantage in the series to date. Meanwhile, Boston has capitalized on its special teams’ opportunities with another power-play goal on Saturday (6-for-13 in the playoffs).
The gravity of Toronto’s situation now isn’t lost on anyone.
“We’re down 3-1,” Nylander said. “It’s not a great spot to be in.”
Keefe opted to make a goaltender change for the final frame by inserting Joseph Woll for Ilya Samsonov, who had allowed three goals on 16 shots (.813 save percentage). The Leafs’ coach declined to name a starter for Game 5.
“The reason for [the swap] is we’re just trying to change things,” Keefe said. “You get to get Joe involved. That’s really it. You’re trying to change the momentum. We’ve got some time here to talk it through [before Game 5].”
Boston went back to Jeremy Swayman in its net to break the goalie rotation it had cultivated between him and Linus Ullmark. Swayman had led Boston to victory in Game 1 and Game 3; Ullmark started the Bruins’ lone losing effort in Game 2. Coach Jim Montgomery explained on Saturday the plan had been to give each of Swayman and Ullmark a postseason start and then decide on a regular goaltender from there. Given Swayman’s success, it was an easy choice for Montgomery to keep him in the crease.
Montgomery had previously questioned if Swayman was “in [the Maple Leafs’] heads,” given his success against them all season. Swayman is now 6-0-0 against Toronto and holds a .956 save percentage through three postseason games.
Keefe felt it wasn’t for lack of trying that Toronto hadn’t been able to crack Swayman.
“I don’t sense any frustration,” he said. “Guys are pushing one another, guys are competitive, guys want to win. It’s all part of it.”
Toronto can only turn the page now to Game 5 on Tuesday, where the Leafs will extend — or end — their season.
“There was nothing wrong with our effort level here tonight,” Keefe said. “Guys are competing. It’s physical hockey. Guys are trying. That’s a good team over there. It’s limiting us. You can question a lot of things, can’t question the effort.”
-
Kristen Shilton, ESPN NHL reporter
Mikhail Sergachev‘s return sparked the host Tampa Bay Lightning, who avoided elimination, with a 6-3 victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of their first-round series on Saturday.
One of the Lightning’s top defenseman had been out since fracturing the tibia and fibula in his left leg on Feb. 7. Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper had predicted the Lightning would need to “go far” in the playoffs to see Sergachev dress for another game. Sergachev surpassed all expectations by suiting up just 80 days following that break to be a last-minute addition to the Lightning’s starters.
“I felt like a hockey player again. It was unbelievable,” Sergachev said. I found out yesterday the [doctors] cleared me, and it was Coach [Cooper’s] decision [if I played]. I stayed at the rink a little longer waiting for the coach to say yes or no. And he said yes. I got very excited.”
Sergachev had hoped he’d be able to come by for Game 1 of the series but that didn’t pan out. Instead, he logged 17:03 in ice time and notched an assist on Brandon Hagel‘s second-period goal through his Saturday debut. Sergachev admitted to being “a little bit tired” in the end after so long on the sidelines. But Sergachev’s smile never wavered.
Even though he’s played nearly 500 NHL games since being drafted by Tampa ninth overall in 2016 and established himself as one of the league’s rising stars on defense, there were still a few butterflies present before Saturday’s game.
“Honestly, I couldn’t really sleep last night; it felt like my first NHL game again,” Sergachev said. “And then you go on the ice, and you get that [reception] from the fans in the warmup — it made me very emotional. I’m thankful to be here.”
The Lightning are grateful to be alive in their series, too. Tampa — still trailing Florida 3-1 — narrowly avoided being swept by its in-state rivals. The Lightning held a 3-0 lead after the first period but the Panthers roared back to cut the deficit to 4-3 after 40 minutes. However, Tampa scored the game’s final two goals to extend the series.
Tampa finally found its footing offensively. The Lightning exploded up front, led by two-goal performances from Steven Stamkos and Hagel and a three-point effort by Brayden Point. The Lightning power play also had its best showing of the postseason, going 2-for-5.
Stamkos credited Sergachev’s return for adding emotional energy to the group before the puck dropped.
“I got chills myself, with the reception he got,” Stamkos said. “The amount of work that goes into coming back from an injury like that, it’s impressive. The timeline is impressive, everything he’s done is extremely impressive. To go out there and jump into a series when we’re down and on the ropes, it was a huge boost for our team. I thought Sergy played outstanding tonight. Hopefully that continues because he’s a big part of our defense for sure.”
Sergachev in turn thanked Stamkos for providing much-needed inspiration from Stamkos’ recovery from a broken leg in 2013.
“Our trainer was showing me videos of Stammer skating like four weeks after [that injury],” Sergachev said. “That kind of pushed me and made me work because the first four weeks since the injury, it was tough mentally. But seeing those videos of him walking pretty much the next day and doing all that stuff kind of helped.”
It wasn’t easy for Sergachev to be back on the injured list. That February game marked Sergachev’s first night back from a previous lower-body injury that held him out of 17 contests. Sergachev was admittedly devasted to see his entire season halted at just 34 games, with two goals and 17 assists. And clearly he was missed, not only by the Lightning players but the fans who welcomed him back warmly.
“Did you hear the introduction? The roar just kept going on,” Cooper said. “All the guys on our bench got up. It was a stirring moment and I thought we carried that right into the first period.”
Cooper had no hesitation either inserting Sergachev immediately into an elimination game. Regardless of Sergachev potentially being rusty — or the high stakes at hand — Cooper knew his defenseman was a lock for the lineup.
“You can tell when a player is ready and when a player is not ready,” Cooper said. “Yesterday, we knew he was ready. I just wanted to check the box today when he showed up. I’ve seen it time and time again. It’s the look in the eye. He was a believer.”
Tampa Bay will continue to believe as well that its playoff run won’t end in Monday’s Game 5 — especially not with Sergachev now along for the ride.
“It was phenomenal,” defenseman Victor Hedman said of having Sergachev in the mix. “We’ve watched from close up how hard he’s worked to get to this day. Super impressed by the way he played. Big momentum boost for the guys. It’s huge.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Fierceness was named the 5-2 morning-line favorite for the 150th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs and will look to make history in next Saturday’s milestone race as the first entrant to win from the No. 17 post position in 45 attempts.
The Todd Pletcher-trained colt enters the 1¼-mile opening leg of the Triple Crown races on May 4 off a dominating 13½-length win in last month’s Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park and has a third-place finish as a 3-year-old. Fierceness aims to give the Hall of Fame trainer his third Derby win and first since 2017 with Always Dreaming.
Coming just a year after Pletcher-trained Derby favorite Forte was scratched hours before the race with a bruised right foot, Fierceness owner Mike Repole said he is glad to have another top choice, even with history working against the post position.
“We’re in a great spot,” Repole said. “If you could draw it up, you want to be somewhere outside and you don’t want the speed inside. It’s blessed, couldn’t have asked for a better (post) for us other than we found out that (No.) 17 is 0 for 44. And I’m 0 for 9, so we’re 0 for 53 combined, but we’re OK.”
Also, Brad Cox-trained filly Tarifa is the 7-2 morning-line favorite for Friday’s Kentucky Oaks after drawing the No. 8 post.
Sierra Leone, whose 155 points led the Derby qualifying trail, drew the No. 2 post as the 3-1 second choice for the $5 million Grade I premier race for 3-year-olds. The son of Gun Runner and Heavenly Love by Malibu Moon has rallied from deep in the field to win both starts this year including a thrilling trip in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland three weeks ago, which followed a testy entry to the gate.
“He’s just a touch farther in than I wanted but he didn’t get the 1 hole, so I’m OK with that,” said trainer Chad Brown, whose other Derby entry, Domestic Product, drew the No. 15 post at 30-1 odds.
Catching Freedom is the 8-1 third Derby choice from the No. 14 post and will aim to give Cox his first outright Derby victory after Mandaloun was named the 2021 Derby winner following the disqualification of deceased colt Medina Spirit for a failed postrace drug test.
Tarifa will start Friday’s Oaks from the No. 8 post as the 7-2 favorite. She has won all three starts this season to lead the Oaks trail with 150 points and has won four of five lifetime starts while earning $456,000. The dark brown filly will attempt to give Louisville-born Cox his third Oaks win and first since 2020 with Shedaresthedevil.
“Very happy with how she’s coming into it,” Cox said of Tarifa. “I need her to settle. (Jockey) Flavien (Prat) knows her now, rode her in her last two, and he’s had opportunity to breeze her the last two weeks. Hopefully, she gets away well, gets a good, clean trip, and I think she’s gonna like the mile and an eighth.”
Just F Y I, trained by Hall of Famer and four-time Eclipse winner Bill Mott, is the 9-2 second choice in Friday’s $1.5 million Oaks and will start from the No. 13 post. Pletcher-trained filly Leslie’s Rose is the 4-1 third choice from the far No. 14 post, looking to follow up her win in the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland on April 5.
The draw was held on opening night of Churchill Downs’ spring meet for the first time and a week ahead of the milestone race, two days earlier than in recent years.
Post time for the Derby is 6:57 p.m. ET. Friday’s Oaks is scheduled for a 5:51 p.m. post.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Environment11 months agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports6 months agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Technology3 years ago
Game consoles were once banned in China. Now Chinese developers want a slice of the $49 billion pie
-
Politics2 years ago
Have the last few wobbly weeks seen a turning point for Johnson as PM?