While the A’s have been busy trading away most of their big-name players, they reportedly are bringing back one of the most popular players to play for Oakland in recent memory.
Stephen Vogt, a two-time All-Star during his five seasons with the A’s, is reportedly signing a major league deal to return to Oakland, according to Matthew Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle and Martin Gallegos of MLB.com. The deal is pending a physical.
The return of the 37-year-old Vogt is a reunion nearly five years in the making. Picked up as a waiver claim before the 2013 season, Vogt was a part-time catcher on the 2013 and 2014 playoff teams in Oakland before taking over as the primary catcher in 2015. He shined in the role, batting .261 with 18 homers in 2015 and .251 with 14 homers in 2016, being selected to the All-Star game in both years.
The fan favorite elicited chants of “I believe in Stephen Vogt!” from the bleachers and was a highly visible member of the community, earning the Dave Stewart Community Service award twice. He was popular in the clubhouse, too, and was named the team’s most inspirational player for three consecutive years.
But when the current core led by Matt Olson and Matt Chapman was getting called up, Vogt was one of the guys from the previous core sent off. He was the longest-tenured player on the team when Oakland designated him for assignment on June 22, 2017 — a move Vogt said he saw coming, even if he didn’t like it.
“Oakland is a place we love,” Vogt said after the move in 2017. “It’s a place we watched our family grow. We had success here as a family and as a team. We’ve developed a lot of relationships that will last.”
Players on that core were upset about the move at the time, with Vogt considered a team leader.
“I was shocked,” then-Oakland reliever Sean Doolittle said in 2017. “I know in recent weeks he might not have been playing as much, but I don’t think this was on anybody’s radar. It wasn’t something that people were expecting. It came as quite a shock to everybody after the game last night.
“His story is an Oakland A’s story, right? A guy that had kind of gotten a chance with another club, but finally got a chance here after he was picked up on waivers and spent a little bit of time at Triple-A. Within a year was an everyday guy for us and became a leader of the team, kind of the captain of the team. If there was going to be a guy who was going to wear a `C’ on his jersey, it would have been him.”
The Brewers claimed Vogt off of waivers and he was solid for Milwaukee, batting .254 with eight homers. After missing 2018 with a shoulder injury, Vogt signed across the Bay with the Giants, his favorite childhood team, to help back up Buster Posey. In the limited role, Vogt hit 263 with 10 homers as well as bringing the good vibes to a Giants clubhouse
His play earned him a $3 million contract with the Diamondbacks, where he spent the shortened 2020 season and the first half of 2021. He was traded to Atlanta in mid-July to help the Braves make a playoff push, but a Sept. 10 injury led to sports hernia surgery in October. He wasn’t available as the Braves won the World Series.
Vogt’s return to Oakland could be a foreshadowing of a trade of Sean Murphy. The current A’s starter is a year away from arbitration, but a November report from The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal mentioned Murphy as an “available part” for other teams. The A’s also acquired a highly-touted catcher, Shea Langeliers, from the Braves in the Olson trade, a player who many observers feel is nearly ready for the Majors.
But whether the A’s trade Murphy or not, the left-handed hitting Vogt is a good platoon fit at the catcher position. And he’s sure to receive a hearty welcome back from the fan base, too.
