HOUSTON — The night before his first game as a big-league manager, his realization of a long-running dream and his homecoming at the ballpark where he became a folk hero, Stephen Vogt slept for 10 hours.
That routine didn’t last. Before long, he was reviewing in-game decisions and mapping out future ones, jotting down everything and costing himself sleep in the process. Such is the job.
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“Make sure you sleep,” Aaron Boone said when the New York Yankees visited Cleveland in April. “As hard as it is, you need some melatonin in your life. Make it happen.”
Vogt has worked at it. He said he fell asleep by 8 p.m. on the club’s off day this week. He golfed with bullpen coach Brad Goldberg on Monday in Houston.
He’s 31 games into his new gig, saying this week, “I’m learning along the way.” We’re learning about him, too. Here’s what we know thus far.
He hates the word “platoon.”
That may be true — he literally said as much at the start of the season — but the Cleveland Guardians do lead the league in platoon advantage, and by a considerable margin. The league average is 54 percent, and the Guardians have sent an opposite-handed hitter to the plate for 72.4 percent of plate appearances. Having a couple of switch hitters in José Ramírez and Brayan Rocchio helps.
Vogt has demonstrated a knack for keeping a hitter in the lineup if their bat shows signs of life. David Fry hasn’t solely faced lefties, for instance. But left-handed hitters still aiming to prove themselves — Will Brennan, Estevan Florial and Bo Naylor — haven’t yet conquered right-handed pitching, so they have often sat when a southpaw takes the hill.
He’s somewhat superstitious.
He likes to say he’s “a little ‘stitious,” in the words of Michael Scott, Steve Carell’s character in “The Office.” Vogt shifted his seat on the dugout bench for his daily media session Wednesday because the Guardians lost the night before. He selected the same spot Thursday because the Guardians won the previous night.
He has a new appreciation for the extra-inning rule.
As a fan of the sport, Vogt “can’t stand” the rule that places an automatic runner on second base for extra innings. As a major-league manager, though? “I love it,” he said, noting how it promotes action, which prevents teams from burning through their entire bullpen, requiring roster moves. The Guardians played four consecutive extra-inning games this week, but three ended in 10 frames and one ended in 11. With an off day wedged in the middle of that stretch, the Guardians evaded the transaction wire. That probably wouldn’t have been possible with the old rules.
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He doesn’t believe in personal catchers.
Eyebrows were raised when Austin Hedges teamed with Shane Bieber as the team’s Opening Day battery, but Vogt contended that had more to do with mapping out Naylor’s playing time for the rest of the club’s road trip. Hedges has, by far, the fewest plate appearances on the team, and Vogt has juggled playing time for all three catchers, especially as Fry’s sizzling bat has earned him more opportunities. Vogt hasn’t hesitated to pinch hit for Hedges or Naylor if a tough lefty is on the mound. Vogt is a former catcher with a bunch of former catchers on his staff. It figures that they’d have a strong grasp of how to guide Naylor through his first 162-game season.
He wants to be able to trust any reliever in any situation.
Vogt has turned to just about everyone — save for Pedro Avila, who has barely pitched since joining the club — in high-leverage situations. That’s partially a product of leaning on the bullpen so heavily and having so many high-leverage situations to cover. But Tyler Beede went from a non-roster invitee battling for a rotation spot to bridging the gap to Emmanuel Clase. Hunter Gaddis followed a similar path. Cade Smith and Tim Herrin have pitched in mop-up duty and tie games in the late innings. Cleveland’s pen entered Thursday with a league-best 2.43 ERA.
He isn’t rigid about when to use his closer.
Clase owns the ninth inning. But on the road, there’s some flexibility. During the Guardians’ recent string of extra-inning affairs, Clase twice pitched the ninth and twice pitched the 10th. A key determining factor on when he entered? The hitters due up for the opposition.
Game 1 vs. Braves: 9th inning, vs. 2-3-4 (Ozzie Albies, Austin Riley, Matt Olson)
Game 2 vs. Braves: 10th inning, vs. 2-3-4 (Albies, Riley, Olson)
Game 3 vs. Astros: 9th inning, vs. 3-4-5 (Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker, Jeremy Peña)
Game 4 vs. Astros: 10th inning, vs. 8-9-1 (Joey Loperfido, Mauricio Dubón, José Altúve)
“I look more at where we are in the lineup and which hitters are going to be the best matchup for our guys,” Vogt said. He pointed to the third extra-inning game when Clase faced the heart of Houston’s order and Gaddis handled the 10th. The plan ultimately fizzled, but Vogt noted Gaddis’ more favorable strikeout rate, which could pay dividends with a runner starting on second base in the extra frame.
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He’s fixated on beating the opposing starting pitcher.
“I haven’t shied away from it,” he said Wednesday when referencing the philosophy he has probably shared most often since landing the gig. “We have to beat the starter every night. Bullpens now are so good. You want to get to the starter, you want to get to him early, get some momentum.”
He doesn’t want hitters rotting on the bench.
Last year, Gabriel Arias went three weeks between starts at one point. Aside from a two-week injured list stint in August, Tyler Freeman was on the big-league roster from May 10 until the end of the season but made only 37 starts. Other than Hedges, everyone’s on pace for more than 300 plate appearances. Vogt has leaned on the versatility of Fry and Gabriel Arias, who have appeared at four and six different positions, respectively (though Arias’ cameo in center field on Thursday night, uh, didn’t go so well).
Quote of the week
“(Bench coach Craig Albernaz) will hit me in the chest and be like, ‘You having fun yet?’ Or Carl (Willis) will do the same thing. Or I’ll do it to them. It’s fun. It’s torture. It’s nerve-racking. It’s all of the above.” — Vogt, on managing so many close games
Final thoughts
• In case anyone was curious what Kyle Manzardo is up to in Columbus, his slash line sat at .323/.400/.667 entering action Thursday. It’s a small sample, but he’s had no trouble with lefties. He really doesn’t have anything left to prove at Triple A, especially since he spent last season at that level (though he did miss part of the season with a shoulder injury).
We’re past the point of pure service-time manipulation, as any call-up now would have an extra year of team control. That is, unless the player finishes in the top two in the Rookie of the Year balloting. Tanner Bibee gained a full year of service time last year by finishing second to Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson.
• How heavily have the Guardians leaned on their bullpen? Entering Thursday’s action, 13 major-league pitchers had made at least 16 appearances. The Guardians employ four of those 13 pitchers: Clase, Gaddis, Scott Barlow and Nick Sandlin. (Cade Smith had made 15 appearances.)
Vogt has yet to use any reliever for three consecutive days. When Bryan Shaw pitched in Cleveland, if he found his name on the list of unavailable relievers — usually after working for three straight days — he would cross it out and add his name to the list of those available.
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During his season as Mariners bullpen coach, Vogt gained a year of experience in the art of communication with relievers. He said the more dialogue, the better. Some of his relievers in Cleveland are more receptive to days off than others.
“Some guys are like, ‘Thank you,’” Vogt said, “and other guys are like, ‘I’m good to go.’ I’m like, ‘I know you’re good to go but you will not pitch today.’”
• On the subject of bullpens, Gaddis had a rough few days after 13 scoreless outings to start the season, as he relinquished the lead in the first three of those extra-inning games. That sparked memories of another first-time reliever who crashed to Earth after an impressive run. Here’s a quick trip down memory lane to the one week the artist formerly known as Fausto Carmona served as Cleveland’s closer.
Carmona joined the bullpen in late May 2006, posted a 0.95 ERA for two months and then assumed the closer role when Bob Wickman was traded in July.
July 30: allowed four runs in the ninth as Cleveland lost 7-3 at home against Seattle
July 31: allowed a walk-off three-run homer to David Ortiz as Cleveland lost 9-8 in Boston
Aug. 2: allowed a walk-off two-run double to Mark Loretta as Cleveland lost 6-5 in Boston
Aug. 5: allowed a walk-off two-run homer to Iván Rodríguez as Cleveland lost 4-3 in Detroit
That’s four losses, three blown saves and 11 earned runs surrendered in one week of ninth innings (37.13 ERA). The next two games he appeared in: a 14-2 win and a 13-0 win. By September, Carmona had returned to the rotation, and the following season, he finished fourth in the American League Cy Young Award voting.
• The Crawford Boxes, the short porch in left field at Minute Maid Park, are inviting to any right-handed hitter. Vogt, a left-handed swinger, capitalized on their proximity to home plate, a mere 315 feet away, on July 9, 2016.
“I snuck one in there,” he recalled.
The ball left his bat at 95.8 mph and traveled 356 feet. According to Statcast, it would have been a home run in no other big-league venue.
• The Guardians hadn’t played four consecutive extra-inning games since May 1-5, 1910. That year, the Naps — aptly named, as Nap Lajoie hit .383 — played extra innings 10 times in their first 30 games. They finished the season with nine ties.
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• Steven Kwan had seven three-hit games in the Guardians’ first 30 games of the season, the first Cleveland hitter with such an achievement in 87 years. The rest of the list:
Lyn Lary, 1937
Freddy Spurgeon, 1926
Tris Speaker, 1922
Nap Lajoie, 1904
How would Triston McKenzie pitch to Kwan?
“Just let him hit the ball,” McKenzie said. “I’m not trying to beat him. I think he knows the zone too well. … You just have to let him do his thing.”
(Top photo of Stephen Vogt: Jason Miller / Getty Images)
