The case for each Manager of the Year Award finalist

By commanding a clubhouse and making the right in-game moves, a good manager can make a major difference. But which MLB skipper made the biggest impact in 2024?

Three American League Central managers -- the Tigers’ A.J. Hinch, the Royals’ Matt Quatraro and the Guardians’ Stephen Vogt -- have a claim to the AL Manager of the Year Award. All three of their clubs made the postseason, with Detroit and Kansas City turning things around considerably and Cleveland far surpassing its projections.

In the National League, meanwhile, all three Manager of the Year finalists were in their first season with their respective teams. First-time skipper Carlos Mendoza and the Mets overcame a tough start to reach the postseason, Pat Murphy weathered pitching losses to lead the Brewers to the NL Central crown, and Mike Shildt managed the Padres to a scorching second half.

Here's a look at the case for each of the six Manager of the Year candidates before the winners are announced at 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday on MLB Network.

• Past winners of Manager of the Year

AMERICAN LEAGUE

A.J. Hinch, Tigers

While metrics have become intertwined with much of baseball’s awards voting, Manager of the Year often comes down to whose team surpassed their preseason expectations the most. The case for Hinch, however, is best seen in how the Tigers’ expectations looked in early August after president/general manager Scott Harris traded away most of Detroit’s veterans and called up a bevy of rookies, furthering a youth movement that began years ago.

The Tigers, challenged by Hinch to figure out what kind of team they wanted to be and decide whether to buy into his plan to win games, went on a 31-11 tear to crash the AL Wild Card race at the expense of the division-rival Twins. Hinch’s in-game moves along the way drew widespread praise, from using relievers as openers ahead of young starters to a faithful use of pinch-hitters and platoons to seek advantages in at-bats. Hinch worked in young players in positions where they had a better chance to succeed, none more so than Trey Sweeney, who blossomed from a Dodgers prospect in the Jack Flaherty trade to Detroit’s primary shortstop once Javier Báez suffered a season-ending right hip injury. Pitchers bought into different roles outside of their comfort zones, believing they were put in a favorable spot.

The Tigers played well above their experience level down the stretch and played well in tight situations all season. Detroit led MLB with 31 one-run victories in the regular season and posted 36 comeback wins, according to Baseball Reference. The Tigers ran the bases as aggressively and effectively as any team in the Majors over the final two months, igniting an offense that didn’t boast the power of other contenders.

-- Jason Beck

Matt Quatraro, Royals

Quatraro’s first season as a manager of an MLB team really could not have gone worse, at least in terms of win-loss record. Matching a franchise-record 106 losses in your first season at the helm? Not how the Royals drew it up in 2023.

But maybe it made the comeback in 2024 even better.

In his second season as Kansas City's manager, Quatraro led the club to a remarkable 30-win turnaround and an 86-76 record. The 2024 Royals were just the third team to make the postseason following a 100-loss season, joining the 2020 Marlins and the '17 Twins. The Royals’ 86 wins in ’24 marked the third most by a team following a 100-loss season, only one shy of the 1967 Cubs and the ’89 Orioles.

Quatraro helped get the Royals back to the postseason for the first time since 2015, sweeping the Orioles in the AL Wild Card Series before losing in four games to the Yankees in the AL Division Series.

The Royals were not without adversity, but Quatraro never changed. He was steadfast in his confidence in the bullpen, which teetered throughout the year before ending the season as the club’s strength. When first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino was sidelined with a broken right thumb in late August, the Royals’ lineup struggled, and Quatraro had to mix and match to find sparks of offense to get them to October. The Royals embraced their manager’s motto of “today,” focusing on one day at a time -- and it helped bring postseason baseball back to Kansas City.

-- Anne Rogers

Stephen Vogt, Guardians

Two seasons ago, he was a player. Now, he’s a finalist for the AL Manager of the Year Award. This would be the fastest any skipper has gone from player to Manager of the Year if Vogt takes home the honors. Joe Girardi holds the record by winning the award in 2006 after playing in ’03. And Vogt has quite the first-year résumé to do so.

This was a Guardians team that returned most of its players from a disappointing sub-.500 season in 2023. This was a team that lost its ace, Shane Bieber, in the first week of the season. This was a team that was down three key relievers (two of whom were injured in Spring Training) for most of the season and had only a few experienced options to turn to. This was a team that had two key starters underperform to the point of being sent to Triple-A before the All-Star break. This was the third-youngest team in the Majors by the end of the season. And yet, despite the hurdles, this was the team Vogt led to the AL Central title.

Vogt masterfully managed the bullpen in a way that the Guardians were able to lean heavily on their relievers without overusing them so that the group could own the fourth-best bullpen ERA of any team since 1995. He was aggressive in turning to his bench, picking the perfect times to call on pinch-hitters. For a guy who was supposedly learning on the fly having zero prior managerial experience, Vogt pushed all the right buttons and helped his club exceed all expectations.

-- Mandy Bell

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Carlos Mendoza, Mets

Imagine Mendoza being considered a Manager of the Year candidate in the ninth inning on April 4, when the Mets were three outs away from falling to 0-6. Or in the late-night hours of May 29, when they were 11 games under .500 and, by all accounts, heading to a Trade Deadline sell-off.

Mendoza’s ability not just to steady that ship but to set it on a course for postseason success was a testament to all he accomplished as a rookie manager.

It can be difficult to quantify managerial contributions. The obvious candidate this year is Pat Murphy, who rightfully receives lots of credit for keeping the small-market Brewers relevant despite losing their two top pitchers, Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff.

But why, exactly, is Murphy a better candidate than Mendoza, who deserves his own share of love for the way he handled several crises? On that fateful May 29 night, Mendoza and president of baseball operations David Stearns acted quickly, designating reliever Jorge López for assignment almost immediately after he flung his glove in the Citi Field stands. Mendoza subsequently gave his players space to conduct a meeting without his input.

He was hands-on when he needed to be and hands-off when that felt appropriate. On the field, Mendoza embraced analytics but was unafraid to go with his gut, as he did in defying the book during several important April victories. And ultimately, he won, leading the Mets to the playoffs despite all the junctures they seemed unlikely to make it.

Mendoza’s October performance won’t factor into his Manager of the Year showing, because votes were submitted prior to the postseason. But Mendoza doesn’t need those extra eight wins to bolster his candidacy; his excellence from April through September was plenty good enough.

-- Anthony DiComo

Pat Murphy, Brewers

Murphy was just shy of his 65th birthday when he was named a full-time MLB manager for the first time last November. He was promoted by the Brewers after eight seasons as bench coach when his pupil-turned-boss, Craig Counsell, shocked everyone by moving to the Cubs. Murphy inherited a club coming off a postseason berth in five of the past six seasons, but also one that was without one co-ace (an injured Brandon Woodruff) all season following right shoulder surgery and traded another (Corbin Burnes) on the eve of Spring Training. When ace closer Devin Williams went down with a back injury that would sideline him until the Trade Deadline, the Brewers looked poised to take a big step back. Their payroll was the eighth lowest in MLB, per The Associated Press. PECOTA projected 79 wins.

Instead, Murphy led a 93-win team that won a second straight NL Central title with a 10-game cushion over the rest of the division. He penciled in 17 starting pitchers, matching the franchise record. Twelve pitchers notched at least one save. The youngest player in MLB, outfielder Jackson Chourio, struggled for the first two months, but Murphy and the Brewers stuck with him and were rewarded with a surge that made Chourio a finalist for the NL Rookie of the Year Award.

“He has such an awesome perspective on what we have here and what we’re trying to do,” Brewers GM Matt Arnold said. “He’s thoughtful and conscientious about what the players need. He knows when to push them, and he knows when to give them a hug.”

-- Adam McCalvy

Mike Shildt, Padres

Shildt took over as the Padres' manager in 2024, and just about everything changed. After a star-studded San Diego team missed the ’23 postseason entirely, the Padres overhauled their roster, trimming payroll while a number of those stars ended up elsewhere.

Enter Shildt, who was tasked with turning things around. Sure, it’s often hard to quantify the specifics of a manager’s impact. But the Padres were excellent situationally in 2024, winning the types of close games that they rarely won in ’23.

Their clubhouse was also a different place entirely. The 2023 season saw numerous reports of discord -- reports that, in some cases, may have been overblown but were not entirely without merit. Conversely, the ’24 season saw a Padres team buoyed by its clubhouse culture. Yes, it was a different roster. But Shildt’s role can’t be discounted.

In four full seasons as a big league skipper, including three with St. Louis, Shildt has now reached the postseason four times. He took home the 2019 NL Manager of the Year Award and could be headed for another. In any case, his strong debut campaign at the helm of the Padres recently landed Shildt a contract extension through the 2027 season.

“He took a talented group and got them together, really from Day 1,” general manager A.J. Preller said. “He brought a competitive spirit to our team and brought a lot of joy, energy and happiness to the city of San Diego. It was a lot of fun to be a part of it with him.”

-- AJ Cassavell