Even as a player, Vogt prepared to manage

Stephen Vogt played for, among others, Bruce Bochy, Craig Counsell, Torey Lovullo, Joe Maddon, and Bob Melvin during his 10 seasons in the majors.

His mentors in the minor leagues included two future major league managers in Charlie Montoyo and Matt Quatraro.

“I’m a hybrid of everybody I played for, including my minor league managers,” said Vogt, the 39-year-old rookie manager of the Cleveland Guardians. “I learned stuff from all of those guys and my coaches and my teammates.”

But the person who influenced him the most, even when it came to baseball, was his father. Randy Vogt pitched at Fresno State then coached his son in tee-ball and again in high school.

“My father taught me to love baseball. He taught me how to respect the game,” Vogt said. “Respect the people who played before you; respect the generations before you and just make the game a better place than before you got there.

“That’s what I learned most from my father. He was a great coach and mentor. It didn’t matter if you were the best player on the team or the lowest on the depth chart. Treat everybody the same and that’s what I try to embody.”

Those lessons served him well. Vogt retired after the 2022 season and was the Mariners’ bullpen and quality control coach last season. He then was named manager of the Guardians in early November, replacing Terry Francona.

The last player to become a manager that quickly was Larry Bowa, who retired after the 1985 season and became manager of the Padres in 1987.

Bowa was fired 46 games into the 1988 season. Vogt seems to have a better handle on the job. The Guardians were 18-8 after losing to the Braves on Friday, the best record in the American League.

The Guardians have thrived despite losing ace Shane Bieber to Tommy John surgery after only two starts. Ben Lively

stepped into the rotation and beat the Sox twice.

“[Vogt] just told us to keep going,” Lively said. “We have a great group.”

Good health has played a role, too. The Guardians have had the same 13 position players since Opening Day. All but one (backup catcher Austin Hedges) has appeared in at least 12 games.

The Guardians also have enjoyed a favorable schedule, winning eight games against the Athletics and White Sox. It’s a team that plays well as a unit, has a star player in José Ramirez ,anda deep bullpen anchored by Emmanuel Clase.

The Guardians have made the postseasons five times in the last eight seasons. They’re used to winning.

“I’m enjoying it,” said Vogt during a chat in his office before a recent game. “It’s been busy but I prepared for this job for a long time.”

A self-described “pen and paper guy,” Vogt started keeping notes early in his playing career, filling several notebooks with observations about the game and managerial strategy.

Now he has 14 coaches and a group of analysts who provide support.

“The game has changed,” Vogt said. “There are so many numbers, so many different things. But they’re just tools at the end of the day. It’s still baseball. The players have to go out and play.”

Communicating with the players, from Ramirez to the last man on the bench, comes easily given his background.

Vogt was a two-time All-Star who appeared in six postseason games. But he also played for six teams and was traded, released, designated for assignment, and selected off waivers along the way.

“Baseball is the most personal sport there is out there,” he said. “It’s all about you as an individual. You don’t do your individual job, then the team is not going to win.

“So I think because I’ve been through the struggles, because I’ve been up and down, I can relate to all these guys. I just want to help the next generation of baseball players get better.”

The idea is to make the people around him feel appreciated, something Francona was so adept at as a manager.

Francona is a special adviser to the Guardians but stayed away from the team during spring training so Vogt would have his space. But they have spoken multiple times.

“Asking him advice on things around this organization. Just thanking him for leaving this place the way he did. I feel like I inherited a gem,” Vogt said.

“[Francona] said, I’m never gonna look over your shoulder. But I’m here if you need me and so I’ve called him a number of times.”

Liam Hendriks played with Vogt from 2016-17, when both were with Oakland. He knew then that Vogt would manage.

“It was one of the most obvious things to see in baseball,” Hendriks said. “Where he was in his career and how he was going about doing it, you knew. His career path has not exactly been a linear line. He got a chance to play [in the majors] and really made the most of it. It’s been fantastic to see.”

The Guardians have several players who are only a few years younger than Vogt. But it hasn’t been awkward.

“I like to use the term, ‘Treat everybody fairly, not equally,’ ” he said. “I talk to these guys the way I talked to my teammates. It might be coming from a different seat in the room but I’m going to ask them different questions than maybe I ask a younger guy.”

In time, that will be less of an issue. “The further away I get from being a current player, the less street cred I get,” Vogt said. “I’m very, very aware of that and that’ll be OK.”

UP NEXT Red Sox’ Abreu looks to his roots

Like many Venezuelan players of his generation, Wilyer Abreu has vast respect for Miguel Cabrera.

But when asked about other players from his country he looks up to, it was a pleasant surprise when the 24-year-old Red Sox outfielder mentioned Hall of

Fame shortstop Luis Aparicio.

Aparicio, who turns 90 on Monday, is from Maracaibo. That’s the same city Abreu calls home. Aparicio retired in 1973 after ending his career with three seasons in Boston. Abreu has heard the stories and knows what he accomplished.

“A great player people still talk about where I’m from. He’s the face of the city,” Abreu said through a translator. “Playing in Boston, and in Fenway Park where he played, means a lot to me.”

Abreu was 8 for 63 in spring training and struck out 26 times. He struggled

thnreedseries in the first of the regular season but went into the weekend having hit .386 with a 1.143 OPS in his previous 13 games.

“It was my timing,” Abreu said. “I wasn’t worried about it. It was part of the process. I had to be disciplined.”

Abreu was well-coached in the Astros organization. In addition to how he hits, he’s an above-average outfielder with a strong arm who can steal a base when needed.

Now that Cabrera has retired, Abreu identified Ronald Acuña Jr. as the best of Venezuela.

“I want to be a player people know, too,” Abreu said. “I’m working as hard as I can.”

A few other observations on the Red Sox:

Alex Cora has embraced the idea of becoming a free agent and this will likely be his final season with the Red Sox. That has been obvious since spring training.

Whether it’s managing another team or taking on a media role, Cora is ready for a change. He entered the weekend having managed 836 games with the Sox. Outside of Terry Francona, that’s the most for any Sox manager since Pinky Higgins, who ran the team from 1955-62.

Cora was hired by Dave Dombrowski in 2017, when the Red Sox were in the business of winning the World Series. Now they’re a team somewhere in the middle that would do well to finish above .500.

But Cora is locked in on the present. He has refused to let the players use all of the injuries as an excuse and has manipulated the roster to squeeze out victories.

Cora wants players such as Jarren Duran to come to the park expecting to play every day. Teams such as the Mariners, Rangers, and Braves push their best players to stay on the field. Why can’t the Sox?

“We have the pitching to compete,” Cora said this past week. “That’s the biggest thing. We have to keep going. Nobody is going to feel sorry for the Boston Red Sox.”

The Red Sox could use a righthanded-hitting utility player who can give them more offense than Pablo Reyes. Romy Gonzalez, who has 88 games of major league experience, fits the mold but is out with a sprained left wrist that has been slow to heal.

How about Jamie Westbrook? The 28-year-old has yet to play in the majors but was a tough at-bat in spring training and has professional experience at every position except catcher, pitcher, and center field.

Westbrook had a .782 OPS through 22 games for Worcester and last season had an .897 OPS for the Yankees in Triple

A and hit 21 home runs.

Masataka Yoshida can’t catch a break lately. He was credited with a double against the Pirates on April 20 on a ball down the left field line at PNC Park. But the official scorer’s decision was changed to an error on left fielder Jack Suwinski, who lost the ball in the sun and had the ball tumble out of his glove.

ETC. Miller comes out of nowhere

Mason Miller is proof that good pitchers are out there. You just have to find them.

Miller, 25, played at Division 3 Waynesburg in Pennsylvania from 2017-20, going 10-11 with a 4.31 ERA as a starter. He started slow, then learned after his sophomore year that he had Type 1 diabetes.

Regulating his blood sugar allowed Miller to gain weight and his velocity soared.

His gaudy strikeout numbers caught the attention of Gardner-Webb, a small Division 1 school. Miller took his extra year of pandemic eligibility there and was 8-1 with a 3.30 ERA.

The Athletics selected him in the third round of the 2021 draft and Miller made his debut last season. A nice story turned into a sensation this season. Miller struck out 23 over his first nine games and 11‚ innings with six saves.

He has averaged 100.7 miles per hour with his four-seam fastball he combines with an 87.5-m.p.h. slider. He hits 101 routinely. At 6 feet 5 inches, Miller also is an intimidating presence on the mound.

The Guardians scored two runs off Miller on March 30. He then reeled off eight scoreless outings in a row, striking out 22 over 10‚ innings.

Pitching at Yankee Stadium on Thursday, Miller struck out Juan Soto swinging at a 101.9-m.p.h. fastball, then ended the game getting Aaron Judge on a fly ball with his slider.

Miller hit 103.3 against the Yankees on Monday, striking out Anthony

Volpe, Soto, and Judge to end the game. Judge looked like he had seen a ghost.

“Special fastball,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

Miller faced the Red Sox in Oakland on April 2. He went two innings and struck out Wilyer Abreu, Rafael Devers, Tyler O’Neill, and Connor Wong along the way.

Asked about Miller’s fastball, Devers’ eyes went wide.

“Woooo,” he said.

Woooo, indeed. Here’s hoping Miller stays healthy. Athletics fans don’t have much to cheer about, but they may have the best closer in the game.

Extra bases

Paul Skenes has started five games for Triple A Indianapolis and allowed one earned run on 10 hits over 17 innings with five walks and 34 strikeouts. Yes, that’s correct. The 21-year-old righthander has recorded 51 outs, 34 of them strikeouts. Skenes would not seem to have much to prove in the minors, but the Pirates are being careful with the first pick of the 2023 draft. They want to control his innings in such a way that he’s still available in September and not shut down. Skenes pitched 129‚ innings last season counting his season at LSU and three brief minor league appearances, so it would seem the Pirates have room to work with. According to general manager Ben Cherington, there’s no innings number Skenes has to hit to take the next step. It’s more about how he’s refining himself as a pitcher. “He’s still working on pitches and trying to get better,” Cherington said. “We appreciate and respect how good he wants to be. He’ll challenge himself and he’ll challenge us on that, too.” . . . Blake Snell allowed 15 runs on 18 hits over 11„ innings in his first three starts with the Giants after waiting until March 19 to sign and is now on the injured list with an adductor strain (in the groin and thigh area) on his left side . . . For a player on a new team who was quickly caught up in a scandal involving his translator, Shohei Ohtani is the same player on the field. He had a 1.089 OPS in his first 27 games with the Dodgers and this past week sent a homer into the second deck at Nationals Park with an exit velocity of 118.7 m.p.h. It was the hardest-hit ball of his career and a Dodgers record in the Statcast era. If there is a flaw, it’s that Ohtani opened the season 5 of 28 with runners in scoring position . . . MLB is bringing back Players Weekend for the first time since 2019. But the league has tweaked the format to turn the focus to charitable endeavors, off-field interests, and other personality traits. The event runs Aug. 16-18. The players will wear caps with their number on the side in a “youthful design.” They also can wear personalized cleats and use custom-designed bats. Nicknames on the back of jerseys won’t be back . . . Mike Trout hit 10 home runs and stole five bases through the first 25 games for the Angels, the first time he’s done that since 2018. Since 1900, only Trout and Reggie Jackson (1969 and ’74 for Oakland) have accomplished that. Trout went into the weekend with 378 homers, 76th all time . . . Ronald Acuña Jr. had 191 stolen bases through Friday, a record for the Braves. The modern-day franchise record of 240 belongs to Hank Aaron, with Fred Tenney (196) and Rabbit Maranville (194) also ahead of Acuña. The franchise was in Boston (1876-1952) and Milwaukee (1953-65) before moving to Atlanta . . . Happy birthday to Rick Burleson, who turns 73 on Monday. “Rooster” played for the Red Sox from 1974-80 before he was traded to the Angels. Burleson was the fifth overall pick of the 1970 secondary draft out of Earl Warren High in Downey, Calif. He was in the majors at 23 and started 108 games at shortstop and second base for manager Darrell Johnson. Burleson received MVP votes for the 1975 Sox and was an All-Star from 1977-79. A shoulder injury limited Burleson to 206 games from 198287. From 1989-2006, Burleson was a major league coach and minor league manager with the Athletics, Red Sox, Angels, and Dodgers. One of his pupils was 21-year-old Justin Turner with the Rookie League Billings Mustangs in 2006.