Stephen Guy Vogt ( ;Reiter, Ben. "For Athletics, unassuming Vogt is team's perfect representative," Sports Illustrated, Wednesday, April 22, 2015. Retrieved September 13, 2022. born November 1, 1984) is an American professional baseball manager and former catcher and coach who currently serves as the manager for the Cleveland Guardians of Major League Baseball (MLB). Vogt played in MLB for the Tampa Bay Rays, Oakland Athletics, Milwaukee Brewers, San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Atlanta Braves, and served as both the bullpen and quality control coach of the Seattle Mariners in 2023. He was an MLB All-Star with the Athletics in 2015 and 2016. Vogt was selected by Tampa Bay in the 12th round of the 2007 MLB draft.
Vogt played college baseball at Azusa Pacific University, where he was a two-time All-American selection and set multiple school records. He spent six years in minor leagues in Tampa Bay and was named the franchise's Minor League Player of the Year in 2011, before debuting with the Rays in 2012 at age 27. He started his major league career with a streak of 32 consecutive at-bats without a hit, which set a Tampa Bay record and lasted into his debut with Oakland in 2013. That year, he started all three games of the 2013 American League Division Series, and hit a game-winning single in Game 2. Vogt led American League catchers in most offensive categories for the first half of his 2015 season, and his .277 batting average in 2016 was ranked in the top five among catchers heading into the All-Star break that year.
Vogt left Oakland in 2017 with a batting average of .255 with 49 home runs and 198 runs batted in over 458 games. Vogt joined the Brewers in 2017, playing one injury-shortened season with the team and finishing with a .254 batting average, his highest since 2015. After missing more than a year due to a 2018 shoulder injury, he joined the Giants, his childhood favorite team. He finished 2019 in San Francisco with some of the best offensive numbers of his career, including a .263 batting average, his highest since 2014. Vogt signed a one-year contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks in November 2019.
Early life Stephen Vogt was born on November 1, 1984, in Visalia, California. He was one of two boys born to Randy and Toni Vogt, along with his older brother Danny. Randy Vogt was an accountant, and Toni Vogt was the owner and president of the PRISM Weight Loss Program. Stephen Vogt was born into a baseball family: his father had been a pitcher at Fresno State, and two of his uncles played at University of California, Davis, including Mike Vogt, a member of the UC Davis Aggies All-Time Century Team. Stephen began playing tee-ball at age four, and Randy coached both Stephen and Danny through Little League and Babe Ruth League. Randy said his son displayed an aptitude for athletics from an unusually early age: "I don't know if it was a developmental aspect with him, but Stephen's been playing sports since he can walk." Vogt first became a catcher at age nine, when his coach told the kids to run to whichever position they wanted to play; he originally ran for middle infield, but switched to the catcher position after seeing that none of his teammates had taken it.
Vogt's father made his sons participate in at least two sports and two non-athletic activities in school. Vogt played baseball and basketball, joined Associated Student Body, sung in choir, played trumpet and baritone horn through his sophomore year of high school, and participated in plays and musicals all throughout high school. He also performed in church musicals since his youth, and dreamed of performing on Broadway if he could not have a career in baseball. Vogt grew up a fan of the San Francisco Giants, the favorite team of his father and grandfather; Vogt's favorite players as a child were Will Clark and Barry Bonds, and he also admired Marvin Benard and his underdog story. His family would drive to San Francisco several times a year for Giants games, and they attended the final game at Candlestick Park in 1999, the franchise's first game at Pacific Bell Park in 2000, and every game of the 2002 World Series at Pac Bell Park.
Vogt attended Central Valley Christian Schools (CVC), where his father Randy was the coach of the school's baseball team, the Cavaliers. Randy had been coach of the team since 1998, when Vogt was in seventh grade and was the team's batboy. When Vogt reached high school, he played for the team himself, and during his four years there set CIF Central Section records for career walks (79) and consecutive steals (65), and second-best career marks for hits (160) and runs (147). In 2003 he was named the East Sierra League Most Valuable Player. Vogt graduated CVC in 2003, and as his senior year was concluding he received little interest from prospective college baseball teams, which he attributed in part to the small size of his school. He dreamed of playing baseball at Fresno State, where his father played, but the school did not recruit him. Vogt took part in showcases being put on by Baseball Factory, Inc., a specialist company in player development and college placement for baseball players, and during one of those showcases he was noticed by a recruiting coach from Azusa Pacific University, a small college in Azusa, California. The recruiting coach provided Azusa Pacific coach Paul Svagdis a tape of Vogt, and after watching Vogt take just three swings, Svagdis knew he wanted him on the team and contacted Vogt to recruit him.
Collegiate career Vogt played as catcher for the Azusa Pacific Cougars baseball team for four years. During his time there, his brother Danny was playing baseball for Westmont College, which meant the two occasionally played against each other. In Vogt's freshman season, Vogt had a .431 batting average with six home runs, 20 doubles, 41 runs, and 49 runs batted in (RBIs), and had a 30-game hitting streak, which fell just two games short of the school record. Vogt was selected for an National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) All-American Honorable Mention for the season. In his sophomore year, through April 1, 2005, he was leading the Golden State Athletic Conference with a .422 batting average, and had a team-best 11 doubles, one home run, and 20 RBIs. In May 2005, Vogt was named the Golden State Athletic Conference Player of the Year, the first Cougar to receive the honor. He batted .453 on the season with 67 hits, and finished in the top five in the conference RBIs, doubles, triples, and total bases. He also had 46 walks against 15 strikeouts and an on-base percentage of .582, with a 84-game streak of reaching base safely. Vogt ranked third on the team with a .975 fielding percentage for the season, and threw out 14 of 39 base-stealers.
In his junior year, Vogt had a .404 batting average by April 14, 2006, that ranked fourth in the Golden State Athletic Conference. In his senior year, Vogt had 14 home runs, 70 RBIs, 108 hits, 26 doubles, and a .476 batting average, which was one point short of the school record set by Jim Phillips in 1962. Vogt's senior year performance helped the Cougars achieve a No. 2 national ranking in baseball and the No. 1 seed in the NAIA World Series. Vogt hit higher than .400 each of his four seasons at Azusa Pacific. and had an average batting record of .448 across all four seasons. By the end of his collegiate baseball career, Vogt had been a two-time NAIA All-American selection, and set 10 school records, including single-season school records for hits (108) and doubles (26), as well as career school records for hits (294), doubles (74), total bases (471), RBIs (199), walks (163), and batting average (.448).
Professional career Draft and minor leagues The Tampa Bay Devil Rays selected Vogt in the 12th round of the 2007 Major League Baseball draft, with the 365th overall selection. He spent the first few years of his minor league career in the Class A divisions of the Rays organization, starting with the Hudson Valley Renegades of the short-season New York–Penn League. He recorded his first professional hit during his 14th at-bat for the team, playing against the Brooklyn Cyclones. Vogt initially struggled in his transition to the pros, hitting .173 through 17 games as of July 13, 2007, with one home run and a team second-best nine RBIs. However, by the end of the season, Vogt had a batting average higher than .300. In 2008, Vogt played for the Columbus Catfish of the South Atlantic League, where he hit .383 in 42 games from June 27 to August 22, with 31 RBIs and a .427 on-base percentage. By the end of the season, he had a .291 batting average, with 22 doubles and four home runs.
Vogt joined the Charlotte Stone Crabs of the Florida State League (FSL) in 2009 as a catcher and designated hitter, but appeared in only 10 games before seriously injuring his shoulder. While running to home plate during a game, he slid headfirst and tore the labrum in his left shoulder, which required season-ending surgery in May 2009. Vogt never played in the catcher position during the season, and was unable to throw or hit for eight months after the injury, which many feared could be a career-ender. Vogt requested to stay on with the team for the rest of the season, providing encouragement and support without playing as Charlotte advanced to the FSL championship series in September. As Vogt worked to rehabilitate his shoulder at his home near Seattle during his offseason, Vogt repeatedly questioned whether he should continue pursuing a baseball career, particularly when his recovery suffered a setback in January 2010. He considered retiring as a player and asking the Tampa Bay scouting director for a job in coaching, but on multiple occasions, his wife Alyssa encouraged him not to quit.
Vogt made it onto Charlotte's opening day roster in 2010, but the team staff did not believe he was fully ready to return, so he was assigned to be a third-string catcher. Despite getting limited playing time due to his spot on the depth chart, Vogt was named Player of the Month for the entire Rays organization after a May that included a .404 batting average and 10 RBIs. Vogt still recorded a 17-game hitting streak, which was a franchise high, and made the Class A Florida State League All-Star team, despite having only 80 at-bats. Vogt played in 106 games as a catcher, first baseman, and outfielder for Charlotte in 2010. He finished the season with a career-high .345 batting average, the third-highest all-time by a Rays minor league player. Vogt led the league with a .511 slugging percentage and .910 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS), ranked second for on-base percentage (.399), and ranked sixth in doubles (31), and won the Florida State League batting title. He also won the Rays' 2010 Erik Walker Community Champion Award, which honors a minor league player who exemplifies teamwork, sportsmanship, and community involvement.