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April 27, 2008

Prospectus Q&A

Mike Scioscia

by David Laurila

It is often said that catchers make good managers, and with a World Series title and four playoff appearances in the last six years, Mike Scioscia has certainly had his share of success at the helm in Anaheim. Now in his ninth season on the Angels’ bench, Scioscia is regarded as one of the more cerebral skippers in the game, a reputation he carried over from his 13-year-career as a big league backstop. A veteran of 1,395 games behind the plate with the cross-town Los Angeles Dodgers, Scioscia will surpass that number as a manager later this season. David talked to Sciosca about the Angels’ running game, the pitcher-catcher relationship, and not letting on-base percentage die on the vine.

David Laurila: How would you describe Mike Scioscia’s managerial style?

Mike Scioscia: I think that the only managerial style you can have is to understand your team. You need to know what their talents are and go from there. You can’t impose a philosophy on a team that can’t execute it. That’s the one thing I’ve learned over the years, to understand your talent--to understand your team and what your players do best.

DL: You’ve utilized the running game a lot in recent years. With a number of your core players getting a little older, do you see a need to adapt that style?

MS: Well, there are different phases of the running game. If you’re talking about a straight steal, if you’re talking about going from first to third, if you’re talking about how you can influence situations by being aggressive on the base paths--I think that’s important. I think it has to be in almost every offense in baseball. You have to be able go from first to third when you can. Even if you’re a slower runner, there are balls that you should be at third base on. As far as a straight steal in the running game, you can’t force that. That’s totally to the talent level that you have on your team.