Ausmus vows to be modern manager for Angels
During 18 major league seasons as a catcher and four more as a manager, Brad Ausmus developed a strong gut instinct about nearly everything that happens on a baseball field.
While spending the past year out of a dugout, Ausmus developed a deeper understanding of how traditional beliefs aren’t always correct.
With a sturdy baseball foundation and a willingness to adopt new analytical knowledge, Ausmus was the Los Angeles Angels’ ideal choice to take charge as their first new manager of the 21st century.
General manager Billy Eppler and owner Arte Moreno introduced Ausmus on a sunny Monday at Angel Stadium, formally opening the Orange County club’s next chapter after Mike Scioscia’s 19-year dugout tenure ended three weeks ago.
“I’m very excited to have an opportunity to lead a club like this with so many great players,” Ausmus said after trying on his new No. 12 Halos jersey.
Ausmus was dropped by the Detroit Tigers last fall after four intermittently successful seasons as their manager ended with a wholesale franchise rebuild. He spent the past year working in the Angels’ front office, examining every aspect of the organization as an assistant to Eppler.
Ausmus thinks his lack of managerial experience was an asset when Detroit hired him, as he fit into the popular mold of hiring managers shortly removed from their playing days. But he feels better prepared for his second dugout job — partly because he has a newfound appreciation for the role of analytics in the modern game.
“Adaptability is important to the Angels, and part of the reason I came to the Angels was because I needed to adapt,” Ausmus said. “Analytics are part of the game. I had an understanding of analytics before I got here. I’ve been using numbers to create scouting reports since about the year 2000 . ... If you use the numbers to make the players and the teams better, that’s the important thing. I wanted to find out more about how we can help players on the field be better, how we can make teams win.”