2059-1 Vogel Retires

[indiansfan]

Vogel Retires

Bryan Vogel, the long time hitting coach of the St. Paul Riverhawks, has announced his retirement after 16 seasons with Calgary’s AAA club. Before St.Paul, Vogel was the hitting coach at Quebec (A) for 8 years. During those 24 years his clubs won 4 championships. Vogel is 67 and never made it up to the BBA as a coach. He said he preferred to work with the kids.

Of course before his coaching days, Vogel was a star BBA second baseman who played 19 seasons in the big leagues. Add his 2 seasons playing in the minors and Vogel’s career spans 45 years of playing and coaching in BBA organizations.

Vogel was an interesting player. Taken in the 1st round of the 2010 draft by Calgary, he was a top prospect because of his power and his glove. He could hit homers, but that was about all his could hit. He always had a low batting an on base average, because he didn’t swing to hit. He swung to hit it out of the park. If it wasn’t a homer, it was usually a strikeout. Vogel would become infamous for his whiffs.

“He was fun to watch,” former teammate Hector Cano said. “When he got a hold of one, it went a long way. And if it was a hot day, being on deck when he was hitting was the breeziest place in the park!”

Vogel was a September call up in 2012 and played 17 games with Calgary. Then in a surprise move, he was dealt to Hawaii during the off season in a 10 person deal. Hawaii was GM’d at the time by the infamous Al Hoot, thus always leaving a lingering stink to the trade. The key return for Calgary was future HOFer Davey Acheson, who pitched in Calgary for 4 year. In 2011, Calgary drafted another 2B in the 1st round, Nicholas Brody, making Vogel expendable.

After 6 seasons with Hawaii and 3 Zimmer Awards, Vogel was dealt again, this time to Montreal. After a few seasons there it was back to Hawaii then on to another club, etc. He got the reputation as the journeyman second baseman that could hit homers and field his position, and of course strikeout. During his 4 season stint with Yellow Springs he earned 2 trips to the All Star Game and added a Puckett to his library.

In 2026, Vogel was traded back to where it all started. After 14 years wandering around the BBA he finally came home to Calgary. He was only there for 3 seasons, but at the age of 36, he was again named as an All Star. He finally hung up his cleats after the 2030 season and started coaching at Quebec in 2035.

Only a career .236 hitter, Vogel knocked out 426 homers back in the day when that was a major achievement. He ranks 6th among players whose primary position was 2B. Of course we know where he ranked even higher, the big K.

Vogel stuck out 2695 times versus 339 walks. He had over 150 strikeouts 10 times! At the time of his retirement he ranked #3 on the All Time BBA Leaderboard, just above teammate Terry Cochran. Currently he is tied for 8th place. He isn’t even the top 2B anymore.

Whether you remember his power, his glove, his years of coaching or all the K’s, Vogel will be remembered.

[recte44]

He was such a unique player- enjoy retirement, Bryan!

[RonCo]

Great player. Let's not forget that he played with MS. I did a player profile on him back in the day.

[recte44]

Oh man, I totally forgot he played with MS. Wow.

[indiansfan]

I forgot abt it too!