Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt will have an interesting spring training, to say the least. Not only does he face significant decisions about his lineup and starting rotation, but he also has to get used to some new faces on his coaching staff.
Fortunately, one of those faces is very familiar, perhaps more than can be imagined. New bench coach Tony Arnerich bears an uncanny resemblance to Vogt, so much so that those around the Guardians have been mistaking one for the other.
The men were on the Seattle Mariners’ staff before Vogt came to Cleveland two years ago, and Arnerich recently opened up to The Athletic about their relationship and how it will work going forward.
“When you’re in that role, you have to have trust in each other and you have to have the ability to tell each other the truth,” Arnerich said. “[I have] no problem doing that. He has no problem doing that. We hit it off right away. He and I are very similar in a lot of ways. It’s really quite weird, to be honest with you.”
Both Vogt and Arnerich are former catchers, so they each share that perspective on the game. Vogt played 10 seasons in the majors, while Arnerich never got called up during a five-year minor league career.
Though Arnerich knew of Vogt, they did not meet until Vogt joined the Mariners as their bullpen coach for the 2023 season, when Arnerich was Seattle’s hitting coach. The next offseason, Vogt moved on to become Cleveland’s manager.
Craig Albernaz was Vogt’s bench coach for his first two seasons, but this offseason, he became the manager of the Baltimore Orioles. The two men had developed a close relationship, which Vogt and Arnerich will try to duplicate.
As players do in preparing for the season, Vogt and Arnerich will use spring training to learn each other’s tendencies and develop a rapport that hopefully becomes seamless. Though there are likely to be growing pains, the fact that the two men get along should make the transition easier.
Cleveland will need everything to be running smoothly as they attempt to win the AL Central for a third straight season. It took a historic comeback to defend the title last year, and some projections have them falling well short of the playoffs in 2026.
So, it’s good for Vogt to know that he has someone he can count on by his side in the dugout if things get tough.
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