CLEVELAND, Ohio — Those familiar with the mythology surrounding the end of Stephen Vogt’s career as a player will recall that he hit a home run in his last big league plate appearance with tears in his eyes after his children announced his name prior to the at-bat.
They may be less familiar with the fact that 24 hours before playing that final game, Vogt was on the field early, working on blocking and other catching drills like he did every day, despite knowing that there was no tomorrow for his playing career.
The message Vogt was sending himself, and by extension every player that will suit up for him as a manager was simple: You don’t take days off. Make sure you do everything you can to get yourself better as a player every single day. You can rest in the offseason.
“I worked my whole career that way, and our players do the same thing,” Vogt said. “They don’t take days off, they go and get their work in.”
With a spot in the American League playoffs secured, and an AL Central Division title already in their back pockets, Vogt and the Guardians have been having conversations for a couple of weeks now based on projections, where and who they could be playing in October, matchups and contingencies.
But Vogt said the focus every day when he gets to the ballpark is to win the game that day. All the way through the end of the regular season on Sunday. Between now and then, Vogt said the Guardians still want to go out and win every single game they can.
“Our guys are still working really hard because you never know which rep it’s going to click,” Vogt said. “It could be today, it could be Saturday, it could be the last at-bat of the year on Sunday. You might feel something that’s going to lead you into a playoff push. Same thing on the pitching side. So we’re going to continue to push and play to win how we’ve done it all year.”
The idea that a roster of young players could still be searching for one adjustment or technique that resonates at the plate or on the mound this late in the season seems like a bit of a reach, but Vogt said one of his mentors, longtime Tampa Bay field coordinator Jimmy Hoff, used to repeat the mantra in September ever year.
“You kind of scoff at it,” Vogt said. “It’s like, ‘Yeah, yeah, Jimmy, we got it,’ but it really matters. You never know what rep you’re going to feel what you’ve been searching for.”
Vogt and the Guardians coaching staff will spend this week reminding players that no matter what kind of season they have had to this point, there is a limited amount of time to get live game reps and make sure they are in a good place.
“You’ve got five days to get it rolling, to get yourself ready and prepared for a playoff push,” Vogt said. “Nobody’s going to talk about a down year when we win the World Series. So get yourself prepared, take every rep serious and be ready to go.”
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