Some of the best managers in MLB were catchers in their playing days.
Kevin Cash of the Tampa Bay Rays and AJ Hinch of the Detroit Tigers are a couple of good examples.
Of course, we can add the 2024 American League Manager of the Year, Stephen Vogt of the Cleveland Guardians.
Why do most successful MLB managers have a background in the catcher position?
Guardians catcher Austin Hedges, who backs up Bo Naylor in Cleveland, shares his theory in a chat with MLB Network Radio.
“The perspective on the field is a big thing because you are the only position that sees everybody else. From catcher, I can see all other eight players, whereas the other eight players are, in a way, looking at me, the catcher, whether they know it or not,” Hedges explained.
What makes former catchers like Stephen Vogt such good managers?
Austin Hedges explains:#PlayersWeek | @CleGuardians
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In reality, the vast majority of the game revolves around the pitcher and catcher.
They are the ones who manage the most information and whose actions impact the game the most.
From game preparation to scouting opposing pitchers and hitters, the action mostly occurs on the mound, at the plate, and behind it.
Other fielders, if you look at it, only become involved for seconds at a time.
Catchers, then, accumulate a lot of information that they later use to manage and see things from another perspective.
Catching gives them a rock-solid foundation.
Hedges also suggests that whereas other positions are more individual, catchers start developing communication skills thanks to their rapport with pitchers.
It makes sense, and it explains why so many successful managers in history were catchers when they played.
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