Inside the Mind of a Manager: Andrew Graham – Double-A Erie SeaWolves

When we look at the farm systems for each team in Major League Baseball, the unsung heroes in developing the stars of tomorrow are the managers who shape that talent in the minor leagues.

Regardless of the level, managers are always tasked with putting their players in the best positions to succeed. To thrive as a manager in the minor leagues in particular, coaches need to strike a balance between setting a winning culture and individual player development.

After you wade through the obvious organizational expectations and structure, the mindsets and makeup of minor league managers are highly unique.

Built from a combination of personal experience, observing the failure and success of managers before them, we’re kicking off a new series for an inside look into minor league management.

On July 5th, I sat down with Andrew Graham, the manager of the Erie SeaWolves. The SeaWolves are the Double-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers.

Under the guidance of Graham and his staff, the SeaWolves have clinched their fourth consecutive playoff berth, after clinching the Eastern League Southwest Division in the first half of the regular season. Following our conversation, Graham inherited the top three hitters in the Tigers’ system in Max Clark, Kevin McGonigle, and Josue Briceño.

During my conversation with Graham, we discussed the team’s success this year, how he got his start as a manager, what his philosophy is on player development, the Australian Baseball League, and much more.

Here is my full conversation with Graham, as we get a look inside the mind of a minor league manager. The following Q&A was transcribed as spoken.

Q & A with Erie SeaWolves Manager Andrew Graham

Emily Waldon: At what point in your career would you say you began to see yourself moving into management after you were done playing?

Andrew Graham: You know what? Coming from Australia, you don’t have the broad programs that they have in America. So, my dad was always my coach. Then, at the age of 13, I started coaching.

Even at 14, I was coaching an under-12 team. It was pretty crazy. So, I guess watching my dad do it in Australia and trying to help the youth of Australia get better and some reaching it over here, I started coaching at a young age.

One of those players I coached, when he was between six and eight, was Travis Bazzana. We went to the same elementary school and the same high school. Our dads knew each other, I know his dad. We know each other’s family as well.

So, it’s one of those small worlds. So, I started kind of coaching at junior year, but when I really knew that I’d probably get into coaching was when I had my surgery.

I was down in Lakeland, rehabbing after a year of Triple-A, and most people who do Tommy John do their work and then go to the hotel or whatever. I was bored. So, I’d go work with the young catchers in the Rookie Ball teams. Coaches started asking me, “Hey, you’d be a good coach one day.” That was when I was like, “No, not yet.” That means my days of playing are getting shorter.

So. that’s when I kind of realized I could be a coach. Then the next year at spring training, the day they released me, in the same sentence they asked me, “We want to take you on as a coach.” That was in 2009 on the last day of spring training. I just got done with the World Baseball Classic, and playing in that. I was like, “Ah, I don’t really want to give up playing.” So, I’m lucky to have a coaching contract. That kind of got me into coaching.

Waldon: Who would you say, obviously, you mentioned your dad. Who is somebody in your professional career that inspired you by the way they managed?

Graham: You know what’s funny is, since I became a manager, it’s been Jimmy Leyland. He’s been a mentor. I was lucky to manage his son, Patrick, for three plus years. I became good friends with Jimmy. We spoke a lot on the phone, me just asking questions to help him guide me, and we’re still friends to this day and talk quite often. I had a lot of different managers.

None of them I can say that I really followed their example, but I took a piece from every manager I had. Some of it was negative, right? It’s not our job to be friends and like all these players, but definitely, you want to gain that respect. I’ve had a lot of ex-players call me up and say, at first, they didn’t like me and then they love me. So, it’s just one of those love-hate relationships.

No one manager I had stands out, but I’ve got more guys, some guys I took more from than other managers.

Waldon: Based on your history with the Australian Baseball League, what are some of, if any, managerial style differences that you noticed, based on how they approach the game over there versus here?

Graham: Well, in Australia, I played in a lot of World Cups, and I’ve been involved in every World Baseball Classic, except for the 2013 one, where I had a foot surgery. But that’s more like you must win that game. So more small ball, more match-ups.

Everything in pro ball is obviously, hey, we’re here to develop these guys. So, it’s not so much small ball, just play to develop and hope you win the games.

Obviously, you want to win, you want to build that winning culture, but it’s more about development. That’s the main difference. But in Australia, you play less. I mean even the Winter Ball season, you play 40 games. Here you could play 138.

Waldon: You’ve managed in the Eastern League, Midwest League and Florida State League and you talked about taking little things away from every experience. Can you explain the differences in managing at all three levels and how it helped shape you from a managerial perspective?

Graham: A lot of people were worried that I hadn’t done Double-A in six years, and it’ll be more like dealing with the older people, but I’ve managed all these kids when they needed the help, right?

I’ve guided them and built those relationships. So, this may be one of the easiest years managing. I’m not saying it’s easy, but easy, in the sense that I’ve built relationships with all the players, even before I started managing. They’ve been in the organization, we’re a successful organization.

So, they know the culture, they know what they need to do, they know how to be professional. It’s just about helping develop these guys and guiding the ship in the direction we need to. And we’ve got older guys too. The important thing is molding their relationships.

Good communication, don’t lie. I tell them the truth. They know they’re going to come and ask me a question, that they’re going to get the answer. They might not want to hear the answer, but they’re going to get the answer, and it’s going to be the truth.

That’s my style and that’s the difference at this level. At the younger level, it’s about teaching more professional baseball, it’s a little more babysitting, a little more of unfortunately having to be that harder manager, and coach them a little harder. That’s only for the first couple of weeks.

Then once again, you get them all working in the right cohesive working environment and you’re good to go. So, there’s pros.

I really learned a lot from the junior levels of managing that, even though I’ve been there a long time and already done higher levels, because you have to know how to develop the tough plays and run downs. You’ve really got to be good at all that stuff. Up here, you just let them play.

Waldon: As far as the people managing side of things, you have a bit of a tough love approach. How have you learned to balance that between “I’m going to let you guys do your thing, and we’re going to have fun here and there, but when we have to go to work, we have to go to work.” What has that process been like for you?

Graham: The best thing is communication. “Guys, we’re going to have a lot of fun. Let’s just go out and play, do what you guys need to do, but we are going to be professionals. We’re going to be on time and here’s my rules and regulations and how the schedule’s going to run.

You stay within those orders and those rules, then we won’t have a problem.” And there’s only been less than a handful of times I’ve had to talk to people about pulling them in. And the good thing is we’ve got some veteran guys on this team who do that for you.

So, the way I police is sometimes I don’t need to be the guy who speaks. I’ll go to one of those players and say, “Hey, I need you to take care of this.” So, if it comes from a teammate and someone they’re sitting next to in the clubhouse, then they actually listen a little better sometimes, than the same words from a manager or a coach.

Waldon: Hearing it from their peers.

Graham: Exactly.

Waldon: There is a clear trend in former catchers moving into management roles. Can you talk about the mindset of a catcher and why you think it works so well for a management position?

Graham: I just think especially this day and age, with all the data that you have and everything you do, the catchers have to do a lot of game prepping. So, the game doesn’t end, then you go home, and forget about baseball. You’re thinking about how you’re going to call the game the next day.

You want the lineup, you’re going to study their lineup, base runners, tendencies. You actually, from being a catcher, you’re kind of already working yourself to being a manager or a bench coach.

You’re actually going over the way to attack their hitters. Not just their weaknesses, but more your pitchers’ strengths. So, you need to know your pitches better than anyone else on the team.

You need to communicate with everybody. You’ve got to control the running game. Everyone’s in front of you, so you are like the quarterback of the team. And we’ve heard that term a thousand times. It helps as a manager.

We had to retain a lot of information. You have to do multiple things in your head at once, rather than just stand on first base.

I’m not saying anything is harder or easier out there, but there is more time to think and prepare out there than it is being a catcher, looking at the manager for pickup signs, thinking about pitch selections, giving the signs in time correctly so they don’t get tipped, being ready to block the ball, ready to throw the guy out, making sure the pitcher is on the same page with you. There are a lot of things that a catcher needs to do, which other players don’t have to.

Waldon: You’ve been in the organization now for quite a few years.

Graham: 23, I think. The longest tenured straight-through tiger, including my playing time. Apart from guys like (Alan) Trammell and them obviously.

Waldon: And nobody will ever surpass Trammell.

Graham: No chance. No chance.

Waldon: But as far as those relationships you’ve built over that time, having managed at different levels, you have interactions with these guys in spring training, how fulfilling is it for you to see them come into their own identity and find the success that they’re finding right now?

Graham: Yeah, I mean it’s amazing to see, and again, this is going to sound like that BS answer, but I want to win a championship. I want these guys to make the big leagues. What’s cooler is when guys retire or five years down the road, I haven’t spoken to them and I get a message about, “Hey, I had my first kid today, it was so cool. You’ve really turned me into maybe a better husband, a better father.”

And that sounds like one of those BS answers, but they’re the questions I’ve got guys who finally retired from the big leagues and said, “Hey, I just wanted to say you’re a big part of why I made it and why I stayed,” and they’re the things that keep me coming back for managing. We spend a lot of time away from our families and sometimes the wives don’t understand that the connection we have to these players, but they’re not that much younger, but you’ve got to take care of them.

Waldon: Almost like a bond forged in the trenches.

Graham: One hundred percent. That’s where the strongest relationships have bonded, right? A daily grind, seeing the highs and the lows.

Waldon: With the culture that the Tigers are trying to build right now, can you share an example or two of where you’re seeing that positive shift and the quality of guys not only on the field, but also off the field and how that makeup is feeding into the camaraderie of this (Erie) team?

Graham: Yeah, two little quick things. If a player comes from another organization, instantly they feel welcome. The guys here are here to be a family, but if they come here and they don’t fit in with the culture, the players will mold them right into that culture.

It’s like if you don’t have the culture to be here, you’re going to feel excluded. So, a lot of guys would just come straight into the culture that we have built and that culture is being professional, and playing the game hard.

Obviously, I’ve been through every regime for the last 20 years here. So, this new (regime) is like every little thing matters. We do the little things that matter and we do the little things every day. Then the big things will be there at the end. That’s the main thing.

A guy doesn’t run hard down the line. A guy doesn’t get into the running lane to get out of a rundown or create the stop, or the double play being turned. If they don’t do it, they come in the dugout and the players are like, “Hey, what the hell? You got to get in that lane right there,” and we build this culture. Now we don’t just have the managers talking.

Every player knows what the organization needs. That’s how good the organization is and it’s great where we are right now. It’s tough on these players, because some guys should be in Triple-A, but unfortunately we’re stacked everywhere and it’s a business.

We just keep preaching to these guys and that’s where they come back to that communication we talked about. Let them know, “You’re doing a great job. Don’t try to do anything else. Just do what you do. Control what you can control, and good things will happen.”

Waldon: Looking back at your career as a whole, if there was something you could share to up-and-coming coaches about coaching in the minors, what’s maybe a misconception or a bit of wisdom that you would pass on to them to help prepare them?

Graham: There’ll be times in the season, and times in your career you’re like, “Man, I’m kind of over this,” but you’ve got to refresh and come out and remember that you needed guidance when you are a player and you are that new generation. You’re the generation now to get it moving forward.

And again, the little successes, man, ride them. Again, as I told you, there’s days where you’re like, “Man, I’m just burnt out right now,” and then you think about those text messages that you got from the players or telling a guy he’s going to the big leagues for the first time and seeing how emotional and how excited he was.

Those little victories, they keep you going, but it’s in your blood, right? If you’re a baseball manager, it’s in your blood. So, you’ve got to push every day, even if you’ve got 0% energy, you’ve got to give a 100% of what you’ve got, and you cannot let the players see that you don’t want to be there. You need to be an actor as well and go out there with energy and fake it. And then when you get back to your hotel, you can go to bed.

Waldon: Decompress.

Graham: Decompress. Exactly. If we’re not going to bring energy and bring excitement and bring knowledge, then what are (the players) going to bring?

Waldon: How much fun has it been for you at all levels to see the successes that the Tigers’ farm system and the Major League Club are having right now?

Graham: It’s great, and it’s been a lot of hard work to get here, so that’s why you’ve get to be happy and successful. Scott Harris and AJ (Hinch) have done an amazing job. Ryan Garko included, an amazing job. And it’s not just about getting great players, but getting great coaches and you got rid of anyone who was negative, anyone who you could tell was kind of out to get to try to promote themselves rather than just help at where you were.

It’s about being present in the moment and helping the players in what level you’re at. It doesn’t matter where you are. The guys in the Dominican Summer League, getting those players ready for the next wave is just as important as the guy getting to play.

If we look at it like that, everyone pulling on the same rope, where we’re going to have success, then it’s starting to show. But as we’ve been preached to by (Ryan) Garko and all them, it’s like now it’s time to double down and keep going. Right? You’ve made it.

Now it’s harder to stay on top than to get there.