Sidelined Vogt pays visit to A’s broadcast booth
Stephen Vogt received some on-the-job training Wednesday during the Oakland Athletics’ 14-4 loss to Minnesota even though he remains on the injured list with a sprained right knee.
The Oakland catcher spent the third and fourth innings in the NBC Sports California broadcast booth at the Coliseum, joining Glen Kuiper and Dallas Braden on the telecast.
Vogt, 37, has expressed interest in a post-playing career that would involve either coaching and managing or broadcasting. On Wednesday, he sounded like a natural on the air.
One particularly memorable sequence came after Braden asked Vogt about his relationship with former A’s catcher and broadcaster Ray Fosse, who died in October.
Vogt said Fosse “made me believe that I was the greatest catcher on the planet every single day . ... There’d be days where I’d show up and I’d been struggling and I’d been really not myself lately, and he just walked up. ‘Hey, Foss, what’s up?’ ‘You, buddy. Man, you’re great. Man, you’re the best.’
“And he would just repeat that over and over and over, and get you to believe, ‘Yeah, man, Ray’s right. I am really good.’ ”
In an interview near the A’s dugout before the game, Vogt was asked if he had the option to pick between broadcasting and coaching once his playing career is over, which would he choose?
“I want to be in the game of baseball. I love the game of baseball. It’s my favorite game on the planet,” Vogt said. “I want to give back any way I can. Whether that’s broadcasting (or) coaching, we’ll cross that bridge when it comes. Right now, it’s all on the table.”
Vogt hasn’t played since April 20, when he was playing first base and leaped for a high throw from shortstop Elvis Andrus. Baltimore’s Cedric Mullins collided with Vogt, causing the knee sprain that landed Vogt on the IL the next day.
Though Vogt believes he’s making progress in his rehab from the injury — “I feel like we’re getting closer,” he said — there still is no timetable for his return.
“As cliche and boring as it sounds,” Vogt said, “I want to just come in every day and then we’ll talk about what’s going to happen next after we check the boxes.”
Vogt’s first stint with the A’s came from 2013 to midway through the 2017 season. His highlights from that stretch included a winning single in the ninth inning of Game 2 of the 2013 ALDS against Detroit and getting named to the AL All-Star team in 2015 and ’16.
He spent time with the Brewers (2017), Giants (2019), Diamondbacks (2020-21) and Braves (2021) after leaving the A’s, and he returned to the Coliseum a few times. Wearing the green and gold again has brought back fond memories.
“You can’t help but think of the great times we had here,” Vogt said. “The playoff runs, the clinching games, the close games that we won, the packed crowds — there are just so many good memories here in the Coliseum.”
Vogt has been preparing for his post-playing career for quite some time.
“You try to learn from everyone, and I’ve done that my whole career,” he said. “I love talking to the broadcasters, I love talking to the reporters, I like talking to umpires. I just like learning about this game and this industry.”
Vogt then listed some of the ways in which he has prepared for whatever comes after his playing career.
“I watch broadcasts. I watch managerial interviews. I ask questions. I pay attention,” Vogt said. “You never know what you can learn by listening to people that have been doing it longer and that are better than you and smarter than you.
“You can learn a lot if you just listen.”