Vogt, Murphy win top managers in first year on job

The Milwaukee Brewers‘ Pat Murphy and Cleveland Guardians‘ Stephen Vogt were named Managers of the Year on Tuesday after leading their teams to the playoffs in their first full seasons managing.

A longtime college coach, Murphy took over in Milwaukee after Craig Counsell left to manage the rival Chicago Cubs. Under Murphy, the Brewers went 93-69 and finished 10 games ahead of the Cubs in the National League Central division, the largest gap between first- and second-place teams in the 2024 Major League Baseball season.

Only once before had two managers in their first full seasons won Manager of the Year, according to the Elias Sports Bureau: 2019, when Minnesota‘s Rocco Baldelli won in his rookie season and St. Louis‘ Mike Shildt was in his first full year after taking over midseason in 2018.

Murphy spent 96 games as interim manager for San Diego in 2015, while Vogt never had managed prior to this year.

Vogt, 40, steered Cleveland to a 92-69 record and a first-place finish in the American League Central. The Guardians made it to the AL Championship Series before losing to the New York Yankees.

Despite injuries to starters Shane Bieber and Triston McKenzie that left the Guardians short-handed for most of the season, Vogt managed Cleveland’s bullpen brilliantly, with its 2.57 ERA more than half a run better than the next-best team. The Guardians improved by 16 games over the previous season and won Vogt’s first playoff series against Detroit until the Yankees dismissed them in five games.

Over his 10-year playing career, Vogt played for six teams and was twice an All-Star. He took over in Cleveland for the retiring Terry Francona — himself a three-time Manager of the Year — after spending a season as the Seattle Mariners‘ bullpen coach.

Vogt received 27 of 30 first-place votes and finished ahead of two other AL Central managers, Kansas City‘s Matt Quatraro (two first-place votes) and Detroit’s A.J. Hinch (one).

Murphy, 65, had spent eight years as Milwaukee’s bench coach before replacing Counsell, who he had coached at Notre Dame. Murphy’s success there — he went 318-116-1 — led to his hiring at Arizona State, where he spent 15 seasons and went to the College World Series four times. His first job in pro baseball came with the Padres as a special assistant and, eventually, their interim manager following the firing of Bud Black.

Murphy inherited a Brewers team that was expected to finish in the middle of the pack in the NL Central. Instead, Milwaukee blitzed the division, taking over first place May 9 and holding it for the remainder of the season. With the worst record of the three NL division winners, the Brewers faced the New York Mets in the wild-card round and blew a late-inning lead in the decisive Game 3.

Like Vogt, Murphy received 27 first-place votes. Shildt, now with San Diego, received one first-place vote and finished second, and Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, who also got a first-place vote, was third. The final first-place vote went to Philadelphia‘s Rob Thomson, who finished fifth, behind Arizona‘s Torey Lovullo.