Lessons learned from a year in the bullpen: Guardians breakfast

CLEVELAND, Ohio — After retiring as a player, Stephen Vogt spent one year as the bullpen coach in Seattle before landing his job as manager of the Guardians. It provided Vogt with a different perspective on the game and helped shape his views on how to deploy relief pitching on a game-by-game basis.

Vogt said he listened to how Mariners manager Scott Servais organized his plan each night and used what he learned in order to shape how he would someday manage a big league game.

“It helped out a ton,” Vogt said. “I couldn’t really help out in the dugout during a game, so it gave me a lot of experience and I paid very close attention to that knowing where I wanted to go. It was invaluable for me to have that year in the bullpen and learn from Scott how he did it.”

Vogt also credits Seattle pitching coaches Pete Woodworth and Trent Blank as well as manager Scott Servais for opening his eyes in a lot of ways about how to handle a staff, particularly in the later innings of a game.

“I had no clue up until that point, even though I had dealt a lot with pitchers over the years,” Vogt said. “But what it taught me was these guys are a team out there. They care about each other, they pull for each other. It’s not my runs, it’s our runs. It’s one cohesive group.”

Vogt said Guardians first-year bullpen coach Brad Goldberg has done a phenomenal job thus far with Cleveland’s relievers. Through 23 games, Cleveland’s bullpen is 7-2 with a 2.24 ERA and ranks first in the American League with a 1.7 fWAR, according to FanGraphs.

“They rave about him, he raves about his guys,” Vogt said of Goldberg and his crew. “And they’re always prepared.”

Vogt said the bullpen is unique in that for more than two hours a night it sort of acts like its own team.

“You’re on an island 500 feet away from the dugout,” he said. “You can feel excluded very easily, but BG’s got these guys believing in each other. They believe that they can do it every time out and it’s pretty special.”

Bullpen breakdown

What statistics does Vogt prioritize when evaluating his relievers?

“When I look at the bullpen, it’s walks, are we walking or are we throwing strikes? That’s a big one,” Vogt told reporters Wednesday.

Inherited runners is another major key in the process. Are Guardians pitchers stranding base runners when they come into a game?

“All of our guys, especially Nick Sandlin, have been just absolutely phenomenal in that situation,” Vogt said. “Tim Herrin’s been great in that, as has Scott Barlow. Everybody we bring in mid-inning seems to get us out of trouble, so that’s a big one for me.”

Vogt does not ask for perfection, only that his club still has the lead when an inning is over.

“Too many times we get wrapped up in ‘Oh, he gave up two runs,’” Vogt said. “Yeah, but we were up four. He did his job, he held the lead, and our guys have done that consistently all year.”

Trivia time: Which Northeast Ohio high school did Guardians bullpen coach Brad Goldberg attend? Answer below.

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What’s next?

Here’s what’s next for the Guardians following Wednesday’s loss to Boston.

• RHP Triston McKenzie (2-2, 5.00) will face Boston and RHP Brayan Bello (3-1, 3.04) at 1:10 p.m. Thursday. Bally Sports Great Lakes, WTAM, WARF and the Guardians radio network will carry the game.
• On Friday the Guardians travel to Atlanta for a three-game series against the Braves.
• On April 30 the Guardians open a three-game series against Houston at Minute Maid Park.
• On May 2 the Angels visit Progressive Field for a three-game weekend series.

Trivia answer: Goldberg was a 2008 graduate of Beachwood HS before matriculating at Coastal Carolina and Ohio State, where he was a third-team All-Big Ten pitcher in 2013.