'Nice to have him here': Vogelbach to bring new perspective to Bucs

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Daniel Vogelbach always believed that the game would tell him when it was time to hang up his cleats. He wasn’t going to play for the sake of it and risk what he’d accomplished.

“When I lost the full love for it, I didn’t want to take a chance of ruining my reputation that I’ve hopefully left behind of being a good teammate and being the same guy every day,” Vogelbach said. “When you’re not fully into it, you can risk being that same guy every day.”

The veteran left-handed designated hitter struggled at the dish with the Blue Jays in 2024 and was designated for assignment in June. That same month, he and his wife, Kristina, announced they were expecting their first child. If the game wasn’t telling him it’s time, then maybe it was life.

That last year as a player with Toronto did help set the stage for the next chapter of his career. Matt Hague was an assistant coach with the Blue Jays in 2024, and he suggested that if Vogelbach wanted to get into coaching, he should reach out to him. Hague was named the Pirates’ new hitting coach in November, and Vogelbach had a brief but very impactful stint in Pittsburgh in 2022. It was a perfect fit.

“You remember the times you were at a place and the things that it left in your mind, and this is a special place,” Vogelbach said. “I think that there’s good things coming with good people. I wasn’t just going to do this to do it. I wanted to be surrounded by good people. That’s what I believe is here: Good people.”

Vogelbach is currently a special assistant to the hitting department, and the job is still being defined. The Pirates have created jobs to match individuals’ strengths on the player development side, and that could be the case for Vogelbach too. He’ll spend some time with the Major League team and Pittsburgh's Minor League affiliates, and he’s been collaborating with players and coaches this spring.

“I think even from the time he was here, you can really tell that he's a student of offense and hitting,” manager Derek Shelton said at the start of camp. “I think what [Vogelbach] does is that he provides a really unique perspective of a guy that has just played as soon as last year, so we can talk about approach, we can talk about pitchers. It's important. It's nice to have him here."

“I personally love having him back,” said Jack Suwinski, who played with Vogelbach in 2022. “I think he is such a great presence and he’s such a great hitting mind too. Just being able to talk to him in the dugout and he’s very short removed, so he’s still thinking with a very fresh mind from a first-person perspective in the box; which is really nice to have someone like that to go to.”

Being able to relate to players could very well be one of Vogelbach’s strengths as a coach. He knows what lows the game can lead you to when you’re struggling, and how sometimes all a player needs is “some loving” and to know you care.

That’s what makes Vogelbach excited to work with Hague in this new role. There’s a lot riding on Hague being the right guy for this job, and Vogelbach thinks that empathy will go a long way.

“You want them to feel like they’re in it with you,” Vogelbach said. “You want them to feel like you care as much as you do and they’ll do anything for you to succeed. Haguer is very good at that: He’s in the fight with you and he’ll do anything he can behind the scenes to make sure that you’re prepared. That’s all you can ask as a player -- someone to care and be in there with you.”

Time will tell how Hague will fare, and how much time Vogelbach will spend with the Pirates compared to their affiliates. For now, they can only look forward to the future, and for Vogelbach to see what the game is telling him now.

“Home runs, at-bats, hits, all that stuff, people forget about it,” Voglebach said. “The game goes on. The best players in the world, sometimes people forget about how successful they were, but they never forget the person they were, the teammate they were. That’s something I always prided myself in, and hopefully that can translate into this next chapter.”