Stephen Vogt

Stephen Guy Vogt (born November 1, 1984) is an American professional baseball manager who is the manager of the Cleveland Guardians of Major League Baseball (MLB).

As a catcher, Vogt played in MLB for the Tampa Bay Rays, Oakland Athletics, Milwaukee Brewers, San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Atlanta Braves.

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.

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).

His family would drive to San Francisco several times a year for Giants games, and they attended the final game at Candlestick Park in 2000, the franchise's first game at Pacific Bell Park, 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.

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.

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.

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.

In 2014, Oakland fans coined for him the chant "I believe in Stephen Vogt!"

Vogt won the Catfish Hunter Award for being the Athletics' most inspirational player for three consecutive years and the Dave Stewart Community Service Award for two straight years.

He was an MLB All-Star in 2015 and 2016.

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.