Just one year removed from retiring as an MLB player, Stephen Vogt has already become an MLB manager with the Cleveland Guardians.
This is a significant difference from Cleveland’s previous managerial hire.
When the Guardians hired Terry Francona as their manager in 2012 to lead the club the following year, he came to Cleveland with 1,029 regular season wins, 28 postseason wins, and two World Series titles under his belt as a Major League manager.
Despite not having been a manager before, Vogt already brings a mature managerial mindset to the Guardians.
The 39-year-old shared this mindset in an interview with Chris Rose on The Chris Rose Rotation in October of 2022.
During the interview, Vogt was asked, “Are you confident if somebody called you, right now, that you could manage a Major League team next year?”
His answer?
“I’m confident that I would need really good people around me to help, but I’m the type of person that wants good people that are better than me around me. I want people that are smarter than me around me. That’s going to help us be better. I would have a lot of growing pains, I know there would be a lot of that. But I’m very confident, 100%, that if somebody called, I could do it.”
This mindset perfectly matches what the Guardians’ organization currently has in place for Vogt.
From longtime pitching coach Carl Willis, to fellow former All-Star catcher and long-standing first base coach Sandy Alomar Jr., to Francona, who will be involved with the organization in some capacity, Vogt will have many experienced people around him to help navigate his first-ever managerial gig.
Cleveland fans will get a first-hand look at Vogt’s mature mindset when they listen to his introductory press conference on Friday.