Just about a year after the A\u2019s first traded away Kurt Suzuki, they brought him back. They were fighting for an American League West title in August 2013, and their two catchers \u2013 Stephen Vogt and Derek Norris \u2013 were relatively inexperienced.<\/p>\n
Suzuki was there for the final five weeks of the season, but that was enough time for Suzuki to make an indelible impression on Vogt.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was my first opportunity to really play in the big leagues and we picked up Kurt late in the season and he just came in with everything he\u2019d accomplished and poured it in to help me learn how to navigate big league games, a big league pitching staff, get through the playoffs,\u201d Vogt said. \u201cJust one of my favorite teammates. It was a short time, but it was unbelievable. I learned a tremendous amount from him that I continued to use for the rest of my playing career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vogt\u2019s perspective on Suzuki is particularly relevant now, because last week the Angels hired the 42-year-old Suzuki to his first managing job<\/a>, even though he was just three years removed from his playing career and he\u2019d never managed at any level.<\/p>\n Vogt was hired to manage the Cleveland Guardians just one season after he stopped playing, with a year as the Seattle Mariners\u2019 bullpen coach in between. All Vogt has done in his two years in Cleveland is win back-to-back division titles<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vogt said last week that he believes Suzuki can follow his path as a successful major league manager because of the path they both took.<\/p>\n \u201cKurt\u2019s in a similar bucket as I was, where we played through the analytical transition, so to speak,\u201d Vogt said. \u201cWhen we came through the minor leagues and broke into the big leagues, we didn\u2019t have a ton of information. Then as we went through our careers, we got it all thrown at us. We learned how to apply it in our playing careers. I think a lot of that is understanding how to digest all the information and then make it player-facing. Kurt\u2019s going to be outstanding with that. He knows how to relate to guys and get to them to understand what it takes to play 162 games and do it at an elite level.\u201d<\/p>\n Helping to mold the reams of analytical data into something that can be useful for players is just one of the challenges that Suzuki faces with his new job.<\/p>\n He is taking over a team that has gone through its last five managers without any of them producing a winning record<\/a>. He has inherited a team that went 72-90, finishing near the bottom of MLB in most significant statistical categories<\/a>.<\/p>\n Suzuki takes over the Angels with just a one-year deal, which he acknowledges means that he needs to show what kind of manager he is right away.<\/p>\n Angels general manager Perry Minasian insisted that he already knows.<\/p>\n \u201cI never thought I\u2019d be comfortable hiring a manager who wasn\u2019t a manager before,\u201d Minasian said. \u201cBut this is a different person. It\u2019s a different individual.\u201d<\/p>\n Minasian and Suzuki have been together for six of the last eight years. Suzuki played for the Atlanta Braves in 2018, which was Minasian\u2019s first year as the assistant GM there. Suzuki played for the Angels for Minasian\u2019s first two years in his current job. For the past three, he\u2019s been a special assistant to Minasian.<\/p>\n It\u2019s no surprise that Minasian keeps bringing Suzuki back. That\u2019s been a trend throughout his career, starting with the A\u2019s re-acquiring him a year after they traded him. The Washington Nationals, who first acquired Suzuki from the A\u2019s in 2012, brought him back in 2019, the year they won the World Series.<\/p>\n A\u2019s GM David Forst said Suzuki is the kind of player you want to have around.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he has a chance to be a really good big league manager,\u201d Forst said. \u201cHe was always somebody who players gravitated toward in the clubhouse. He\u2019s a guy who\u2019s always positive, optimistic. I think his personality will serve him well under the stress of the position. I think guys will really feed off his energy.\u201d<\/p>\n Besides Vogt, two others with major league managerial experience \u2013 Phil Nevin and Mark Kotsay \u2013 expressed confidence in Suzuki\u2019s readiness for the job.<\/p>\n Nevin, who managed the Angels in 2022 and 2023, was there for Suzuki\u2019s final year as a player<\/a> and his first in the front office. Nevin also knew Suzuki long before that because both are products of Cal State Fullerton.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been a handful of guys that I\u2019ve managed or coached where you go, I think he\u2019s gonna be really good at (managing),\u201d Nevin said. \u201cNot just because they were leaders in the clubhouse. There\u2019s a lot of guys who are leaders that wouldn\u2019t go on to manage a team.\u201d<\/p>\n Nevin said Suzuki showed him his managerial chops by standing beside him and managing along during games when he wasn\u2019t playing in 2022. In 2023, while working in the front office, Suzuki often sat in Nevin\u2019s office before or after games to go over details.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s gonna be great,\u201d Nevin said. \u201cHe\u2019s good with his teammates. He\u2019s good with the staff members. He respects everybody in that building, which is important. The second you pull into the parking lot, he\u2019s saying hello to the parking attendants, the security, the medical staff, the media. He just respects people. It\u2019s going to make him really good in this position.\u201d<\/p>\n