Vogt eager to start his Brewers career
CINCINNATI - Normally Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell makes it a point to get new acquisitions into the starting lineup the day they join the team.
Stephen Vogt’s case was a little different.
Claimed off waivers from the Oakland A’s on Sunday, Vogt instead watched his first game with the Brewers from the bench at Great American Ball Park on Tuesday night while Manny Piña caught Junior Guerra.
That’s not to spend his time eating sunflower seeds and chewing bubble gum. Vogt’s head was pretty much spinning from the moment he arrived as he began to familiarize himself with a new pitching staff, a new league and a bunch of new faces in the clubhouse.
“Obviously it’s not easy, but I’ve been through this before and I feel like I have a better understanding of how difficult it can be,” Vogt said before the series opener against the Cincinnati Reds.
“I’m asking a lot of questions. I’m going to talk to the pitchers as much as I can tonight during
the game, go around to the starters and ask them their tendencies, what they like to do. Just talk to them as much as I can. I already talked to Manny quite a bit about some of the pitchers as well, and he gave me the rundown on the bullpen, their best pitches and where to go from there. He’s been really helpful.
“Everyone has been very welcoming so far, and the best thing I can do is ask a lot of questions and get to know guys as quickly as possible.”
It’s been a whirlwind of a week for Vogt.
He was home in Olympia, Wash., on Sunday morning when he learned he’d been claimed by the Brewers. Vogt quickly ordered some navy catching gear and spikes and then met his new team in Cincinnati, the second leg of a six-game trip for Milwaukee.
Vogt earned all-star bids in 2015 and ‘16 during a four-year stint with Oakland but was hitting just .217 with four home runs and 20 runs batted in over 54 games before the A’s decided to cut ties. He admitted it was tough moving on from where he established himself as a top-flight catcher but he is also looking forward to a new challenge.
“I know how good a player I am and I know how much I have left in the tank, and I know I’m nowhere near being done,” he said. “A change of scenery is going to be a good thing for me.
“I‘m very grateful for Oakland – it’s such a great place and obviously it was a sad day for our family. But to me, it’s the excitement of a new opportunity. It’s an opportunity to come to a different league, a different franchise, a different division, and one that’s in the middle of a first-place run. And that’s something I am familiar with, although it’s been a few years.
“I’m excited for the chance to get back to winning and excited to join a team that has such great chemistry.”
The 32-year-old Vogt said he was actually familiar with the Brewers already because he’d started watching games when former Oakland teammate and friend Eric Sogard was called up from Class AAA Colorado Springs.
Vogt will get his first shot at catching Wednesday, according to Counsell, giving him a full week between appearances.
“He knows what he’s doing,” Counsell said. “I know he’s new and he doesn’t know our pitchers, but guys have been traded in the middle of the season before and they do fine. I’m not worried about that in the least.
“He’ll do fine catching these guys and he’ll assimilate really well to the group. Really, it’s a fresh set of eyes for all our guys that can be helpful, if anything.”
Counsell also anticipates Vogt’s left-handed bat will add even more balance to what was once a righthanded-heavy alignment.
“I’m excited that we can add another left-handed bat to our lineup at catcher,” he said. “We have the potential now to put five left-handers in the lineup against some pitchers, which I’m sure at some point we will.
“Hopefully it’ll be a tough matchup for some pitchers.”
Welcome back: Before the game, the Brewers reinstated leftfielder Ryan Braun and infielder Jonathan Villar from the disabled list and designated utility man Nick Franklin for assignment.
Braun missed 31 games in his second stint on the DL as he recovered from a left-calf strain, while Villar was out for 16 with a back issue. Both played three minorleague rehab games over the weekend at Class A Wisconsin, and Braun was in the starting lineup Tuesday against the Reds.
“I feel a lot better than I did last time,” Braun said, referring to his returning too fast from his first DL stint. “Having an opportunity to play a few games, I think, is something that will give me that much more confidence.”
Counsell had been giving Braun pre-determined days off with the aim of keeping him healthy and fresh, and that’s not likely to change. He said Braun likely will play two of the three games in Cincinnati to begin.
“I think we’ll see as we go,” Counsell said. “We’ll see how he feels tomorrow. There’ll be some off-days in the beginning, certainly, but we hope to get him back to where he’s feeling good.
“I think he’s in a really good place right now with how he’s feeling.”
Villar’s status is more up in the air. Counsell said he’d like to keep him at second base, but with Sogard playing so well playing time might be tough to find. Sogard could slide to shortstop at times as well to give Villar some opportunities, but starter Orlando Arcia is also playing at a high level and that would make it tougher to sit him.