A’s Stephen Vogt endures the punishment for a big-league job
The ice man cometh to Stephen Vogt’s locker after every game.
The A’s catcher says he leads the league in ice, and he doesn’t mean diamonds.
Sore feet, residual effects of offseason foot surgery.
Sore arm from throwing a couple hundred balls from the squat every day.
“Foul tips always find where you’re not protected,” Vogt says.
Manager Bob Melvin, a former catcher, says Vogt is a magnetic field for foul tips.
At age 30, Vogt this year finally opened a baseball season as a big-leaguer, and he’s not about to Wally Pipp himself back to bush-league obscurity.
Melvin got one step out of the A’s dugout before Vogt waved him back to his perch.
If you play all or part of eight seasons in the minor leagues, 617 games (to 225 in the major leagues), you develop a bit of resilience.
In a little more than a half season last year, Vogt hit .279, with some power, and handled the A’s pitchers well, and earned a spot on the 2015 Opening Night roster.
[...] the lefty swinger demonstrated to his platoon-happy skipper that he could hit lefties (.317 going into Wednesday, compared to .294 against righties).
“His numbers are the best of any catcher in the American League,” Melvin said, and added, referring to Vogt’s All-Star worthiness.
In every ballpark, the batter’s stats are flashed on the message board, but Vogt doesn’t peek.
When Vogt was recalled from Triple-A last season and the season before, he and wife Alyssa and their daughter were houseguests of friends in Orinda.
Yeah, I do feel established at the major-league level.