The Cleveland Guardians’ Stephen Vogt has been an MLB manager for one year and he already has an American League Manager of the Year award to his name.
Vogt won it on Tuesday, besting Matt Quatraro (Kansas City Royals) and A.J. Hinch (Detroit Tigers) for the title. He received 27 out of 30 first-place votes.
In his first season at the helm, the Guardians went 92-69, advancing to the American League Championship Series, where they lost to the New York Yankees in five games. That represented a 16-game improvement from the Guardians’ 2023 season when they missed the playoffs. Even more impressively, Vogt was able to guide the team to an AL Central title despite ace Shane Bieber going down with a season-ending injury two starts into the season.
At 40 years old, Vogt is the fifth-youngest manager to ever be named Manager of the Year behind Rocco Baldelli, Buck Showalter, Tony La Russa, and Eric Wedge.
Vogt joins Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy, who won the National League Manager of the Year award. It’s the first time two managers in their first year with their teams earned the honor in the same season since 2015.
Guardians’ Stephen Vogt makes history with Manager of the Year win
Not only was Vogt one of the youngest to ever be named best manager in the league, he’s the quickest to ever do it after his playing days ended, according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com.
Vogt last played in the Majors in 2022 with the Oakland Athletics, homering in his final Major League at bat on October 5 of that year. That was only 776 days ago. He broke the previous record, set by Joe Girardi, who won NL Manager of the Year with the Florida Marlins in 2006, after retiring in 2003.
As Vogt said on MLB Network, where the award was announced live, he relied on his coaching staff to help him along in his first year.
“I wouldn’t be here without those people,” he said, referring to his coaching staff. “And most importantly the players. The players did this. As you know, Buck [Showalter], if the players don’t do what they’re capable of, this wouldn’t be possible.”
Specifically, he’s credited pitching coach Carl Willis throughout the season. Willis has more than 20 years of MLB coaching experience and has been with the Guardians since 2018.
“He’s forgotten more than I’ve seen,” Vogt said of Willis in Spring Training. “I think having him as a resource, I feel like I’m in good hands. And that goes for the entire staff.”
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