AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: GUARDIANS VS RAYS

October 13, 2026

Stephen Vogt

Tropicana Field

Cleveland Guardians

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. When José scored on that Adell double last night, looked like he was giggling his way around third base, big smile on his face. From you guys in the dugout to see how much fun does it seem he has playing and when you guys are this close to doing something special, how cool is that?

STEPHEN VOGT: We talk about him a lot, but the energy and the joy that Hosey plays with is how you want every baseball play to play. He was having fun in a big game. When you make things happen like that, you should celebrate it. It was really fun to see his smile.

Q. Chase had a big night last night. We don't see you all that often. Talk about his development over the course for the season for him, and what has put him to this level?

STEPHEN VOGT: Being on the field. If you look at Chase's career up to this point, he never really played in much more than 50 games in a professional season. So getting 130-plus games of a Major League season, he's going to learn a lot.

Now he's got a Rolodex of big league pitches that he's seen and has banked away. But he's always been a complete hitter. He uses the whole field, understands when to take his shots, works his walks. He's just a complete hitter now that has a full season under his belt, and we've really seen him grow a lot.

Q. Parker hasn't gone too deep lately. I don't know, it could be the playoffs. But how do you think he's handling it, you know, seven-month season now as a rookie?

STEPHEN VOGT: Extremely well for the amount of innings he's thrown, for the amount of times he's taken the ball and given us a chance to win. Yeah, it's the playoffs, so going deep into a game is a luxury.

Elimination game this last time out was probably why he came out when he did.

But Parker, we couldn't have asked for anything more from him this year, and we're hoping for a couple more really good ones from him. I have a feeling tonight, in his hometown, he's going to show up and give us a great performance.

Q. Cade has taken the ball in, I believe, every game in this postseason. What does that say about him and his willingness -- I know these games matter, obviously, but some guys just might not be able to do that.

STEPHEN VOGT: Cade prides himself in being ready every night. It's the regular season as well. He wants the ball every night, and he's ready for it.

We talked before the playoffs even started. He said, whenever you need me, I'll be ready in whatever role you need me. Because he wants to help us win games.

And probably would like for him to not pitch in a game, but at the same time it's probably not going to work out that way. He and Hunter both have thrown in all six. They're just both diligent workers, and they just want to help us win any way they can.

Q. What was your stance on personal catchers prior to this year? And just what has made that partnership between Hedges and Messick so effective?

STEPHEN VOGT: I've never really believed in personal catchers or wanted it. We've talked over the years of things of that nature. This one happened organically. It wasn't necessarily a, we're going to pinpoint it. It kind of worked out the first five, six, seven starts where Hedges' day to catch.

And then the Patty Bailey trade just kind of made sense for Hedgey to keep catching Parker. And when somebody's having a season like that, you don't necessarily want to disrupt that. So today's no different.

Q. Back to Cade, as you get deeper in the playoffs, how much are you talking each day, though, about how are you feeling today versus when you went in, he said he's ready to go or whenever?

STEPHEN VOGT: Every single day. We ask all of our pitchers every single day how they feel. They know they have the freedom to tell us if they're sore or if they feel like they're not going to be 100 percent. And we honor that.

I mean, they're the ones working, they're the ones putting in the effort and the time.

Like, there's some games, like the other day before Game 5, where I go to the bullpen and say, you know I love you but I don't really care how you're feeling today, you're going to pitch. And there's times for that.

But we are going to always put player health in front of everything else.

Q. Do you find it sometimes -- you're a former player -- that you have to worry about a player's career sometimes even more than they do because of the moment?

STEPHEN VOGT: Absolutely. I would like to think that -- I want all of our guys to play 10, 15 years over winning tonight. I truly believe that. I hope I never lose that frame of mind.

Q. I think at the start of this, you said you were going to play your best defensive outfield. Is that why Petey is out there tonight?

STEPHEN VOGT: Yeah, I think that's part of it. And also I really like the way Petey has been swinging the bat. Angel came off the bench, gave us a big spark last night.

So I think these are ever-evolving situations. But going into the game tonight, Petey playing center field in this ballpark, I really like that defensive alignment.