Inside the Mind of a Manager: Tony Cappuccilli – High-A West Michigan Whitecaps

When we look at the farm systems for each team in Major League Baseball, the unsung heros 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. From personal challenges to handling the development of top prospects, we sit down to get a manager’s perspective in their own words.

On June 21st, I visited with Tony Cappuccilli, the manager of the West Michigan Whitecaps. The Whitecaps are the High-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers and are off to a great start in 2025.

Under Cappcucilli’s leadership, the Whitecaps have compiled the best first-half record since 1997. They also feature three top prospects who just received the honor of representing the Tigers in this year’s Futures Game.

During my conversation with Capucilli, we discussed the team’s success this year, how he got his start as a manager, what his philosophy is on player development, and much more. Here is my full conversation with Cappucilli, as we get a look inside the mind of a minor league manager.

The following Q&A was transcribed as spoken.

Q & A with Tony Cappuccilli

Emily Waldon: When did you begin to see yourself becoming a manager after you finished your playing career?

Tony Cappuccilli: I knew I was going to coach. I wanted to play longer than I did, but the game let me know I wasn’t good enough to keep playing and basically said I should start coaching sooner rather than later. So, I always knew I was going to coach.

It was actually cool, a high school coach of mine was here a couple of nights ago, and he was probably one of the two biggest influences on me wanting to coach. I hadn’t seen him in probably 25 years. I didn’t really have aspirations of coaching at this level, but once I got in, I can’t see myself anywhere else.

Waldon: As far as your influence on the players, did you witness situations in your career where you’ve seen the opposite, negative impact on players, and then learning from that and saying, “How can I do better in the development of my guys from my position?”

Cappuccilli: Yeah. There are always negative influences from coaches, I think. I think one of the things that we all try to do, I mean everybody tries to do it, is not be that negative person in these guys’ lives, and not be the person that you hated about previous coaches that you’ve had.

I think everybody has, at some point, had a coach that they didn’t agree with. It doesn’t mean we’re always going to agree or get along, or that there’s never going to be any sort of issues or conflict, but you just try to be more consistent and be fair to everybody, and communicate. I think from what I’ve seen, those are the things that players really dislike from coaches. I think if you can avoid doing some of those things, it helps create a better environment for everybody.

Waldon: You juggle a lot of personalities on this team daily. How do you find the balance of keeping that blanket approach to how you guide the team, while also still realizing you can’t manage every guy the same way?

Cappuccilli: That’s a good way to put it. There are some unique personalities, but really, you have to let everybody be themselves. I think if you start to try to manage how guys are, and you try to have them act in a way that’s different than who they really are, then they become less authentic and stop being themselves.

It’s cliche, but it’s a game of failure, and you want guys to be able to fail being themselves, and not feel like they’re being forced to be somebody else.

I think after that, if you do that, you look back with more regret, if things don’t necessarily go your way, if you fail trying to be something you’re not.

Waldon: A lot of these guys, especially some of the higher draft picks, are facing forms of failure for the first time. How do you find the balance of being too hands-on versus not hands-on enough, almost telling yourself, “They’ve got to learn, but I’m also here to help guide them”?

Cappuccilli: There are always moments that you can help guys with. Part of the game is learning to deal with failure. That’s why we play so many games in the minor leagues, and they have to go through the process of being in Florida, getting here, going to Erie, and then Toledo, and going through the steps of managing that failure.

Because it’s going to happen. Even if you’re doing well, there’s going to be moments where you’re going to fail, and there’s going to be periods where you have less success than others. I think a big part of it is learning to deal with it, because you’re going to go to the big leagues, and you’re going to have moments of failure because those guys are the best in the world.

I think just going through it and letting guys know it’s okay to go through it. Then at that point, I think you start learning how to manage those failure moments or the periods where things aren’t going well. Because they’re going to happen again, and they’re going to go through it multiple times here, and it’s going to happen again in Erie, and again in Toledo. Hopefully, they’ve learned the tools to get out of some of those tough times faster than they would if they didn’t have those tools.

Waldon: With your players all coming from unique backgrounds, how often do you feel that almost-parental pride in watching these guys figure things out and come into their own as a season progresses?

Cappuccilli: It’s constant. Guys like Seth (Stephenson), (Izaac) Pacheco, Peyton (Graham), the guys that we had last year, having those guys here and having some success, and then seeing what they’ve done to get to the point where they’re having success, I mean, you do feel a sense of pride over what they’re doing.

It’s not because of me or even the coaching staff, it’s because of the work that they’ve put in, and like I said, going through those failure moments and learning how to deal with the failure. With time, and over the course of a season, those periods where you’re not having success can beat you up a little bit.

There are some tough conversations that take place behind the scenes, and there are some moments of honesty where it’s like, “Hey, you might not like this, but I’m going to be really honest with you.” And you finish with, “I love you,” you hug them, and sometimes you have to make some difficult comments.

But again, at the end of the day, it’s a business, and they’re going to have those difficult conversations and they’re going to face difficult decisions that other people make on their careers along the way. I think part of the process and part of their journey is to go through that now.

Waldon:
One player told me this (West Michigan) coaching staff is the best he’s ever played under. How much has that coaching staff bond played into the success of the team and the overall camaraderie in the clubhouse this year?

Cappuccilli: I think the culture of our clubhouse is incredibly unique, obviously, given the personalities. You listen to the post-game interviews in the clubhouse when we clinched, and you look at guys’ Instagrams, and everybody’s always posting stuff about other people’s success.

They’re always talking about the resiliency of the team and how much they love one another. I think it’s something special you don’t necessarily always have at this level. I’ve never seen it before. I’ve never seen a team that’s this close. It’s not something that happens all the time, and it’s not something we take for granted.

I think as a coaching staff, we’ve talked about, “Let’s enjoy.” We have to enjoy this too. We get to go to work every day with a really good group of guys. We have a staff that’s really close.

We give each other a hard time for everything possible, and I think that just helps with allowing everybody to do their job. (Nick) Green is going to go do his job with the pitchers. Nick (Bredeson) is going to go do his job with the infielders, coaching first base, working with the catchers, and helping out with the baserunners. Matt (Malott) is going to give these guys every bit of information they can use from an offensive standpoint.

I think that the players know that, as a staff, we’re going to do everything in our power to prepare them for the games and give them the information that we have to go out and give them the best chance to be successful.

With that, individual success comes with the wins. It’s not something where we sit there and stress winning, because I truly believe the winning is a byproduct of good players going out, doing things the right way, and playing the game they’re capable of playing. I think that all of that together has helped get us to where we are right now.

Waldon: Collectively, this season, you’ve completed the best first-half record since 1997. You set the record for the most consecutive wins at home to start the year, and that’s just a few of the accolades from the first half. How do you go about tempering the expectations of this team to help them stay focused, and say, “Pace yourself and let’s see what we can learn along the way.”

Cappuccilli: I think we have to constantly challenge them and remind them that we’re really, really good in High-A, and no offense to anybody, but that’s almost like being a valedictorian at summer school. Our goal is not to be the best High-A team.

It’s to get as many players as we can to Erie and let them be successful there, and let Erie go get a lot of wins when the time comes. Then, when those guys go to Toledo, it’s the same. When the time comes where they get to the big leagues, they’ve gone through it. They’ve won games, they know how to win, they know how to be good teammates, they know how to handle themselves on the field, they know how to work, and they know how to have a good process and a good routine.

I mean, the wins are awesome. It’s better when you win. It’s a lot more fun in the clubhouse when you win. It’s a lot more fun coming to work every day when you’re winning, and it’s a lot of fun coming every day knowing that you have a chance to win, because that’s where that excitement stays up.

But at the same time, constantly challenging guys like, “I’m glad we’re winning. I’m glad that we have won games. But the first half is over, and it was a great run, and now we have to continue working on our individual goals of moving guys forward through the system.”

As everybody knows, our system is loaded right now, and it’s a great place to be. Guys are lucky to be a part of a really good organization, a really good system where they get the opportunity to develop, and they’re not being rushed out of necessity. I think with that comes the ability to just be as present as possible every day to come to the field.

Waldon: You’ve had to deal with some injuries this season, with several guys going on and off the Injured List. How do you maintain that goal for this season while still staying adaptable, realizing you’re going to have to make changes and often make those changes on the fly?

Cappuccilli: I think it comes down to the guys that are here. Somebody goes down, and somebody else is going to pick up their playing time. Their goal, every single person on the team, is to get to the big leagues.

There are guys who are playing less when certain guys are healthy and available, and when those guys have been injured, other guys have gotten more opportunities. To their credit, they’ve done a really, really great job of producing and performing when they’ve had the opportunity to play more.

It’s not easy to play twice a week and produce, and they do a good job in their daily work. They’ve done a good job with using the weight room, the training room, and staying on top of their stuff, making sure they do everything they can to stay healthy, so that when they get the opportunity to go from maybe two games a week to five games a week, they’re able to play every day.

It really is a credit to the guys who have kept themselves ready to play, and they continue working hard, and they stay ready for when their opportunities come.

Waldon: Managerially speaking, some believe in more of a, “I can’t be too involved with my guys. I’ve got to keep some distance there.” When you look at jumping in with the ice cream cones after scoring 10 or more runs or jumping in to dance during a clubhouse celebration, how does the balance work for you in being approachable for the players while still maintaining that level of respect for your position?

Cappuccilli: I think the respect from our end as coaches is earned based on us giving them respect. We try to have fun with them. We want it to be fun. Every day, I end up playing a couple of decks of blackjack with Peyton Graham, and most days, he crushes me. He also knows that we’ll go play blackjack tomorrow, and if something happens and we have to address a negative situation today, we’re going to do it, and that’s my job.

My job is to help these guys and hold them accountable for everything that happens on the field. It doesn’t mean I don’t love them. It doesn’t mean I’m mad at them or don’t like them. It just means that something may have come up that needs to be addressed, so we can do better.

I think they understand that we’re doing that for their good. If we don’t have the tough conversations with guys, then we lose their respect. If we allow everything to slide because they’re likable guys or we have good relationships, then we lose respect as coaches because we’re not doing our job of helping them get to where their goals are.

I think it’s a balance. It’s letting them know it’s okay to have fun. We’re gone, we’re away from our families, we’re away from people that care about us, and this shouldn’t be like we’re asking them to do push-ups every day. This is fun. I have friends who have real jobs. I mean, we get to sit out here. And look at this (ballfield), this is sick.

Waldon: Not too shabby of an office view.

Cappuccilli: Yeah, it’s not. Like I said, I have friends who have real jobs, and they have to put on an uncomfortable suit and sit inside a cubicle all day. We get to go out with people who have like-minded goals and people who are driven every day.

There aren’t a lot of things in life that you get to do that put you around such great guys and such a great group. Not only that, but there are 30 of them, plus our whole staff. You’re around 40 people every day for six months, and everybody’s pushing in the same direction. That makes it a lot of fun.

Waldon: Year two. You’re back in West Michigan, you’ve been here before, and now you’ve got a better grasp on the community. How special is this area, the fan base, obviously the park renovations, and how much fun has that been for you to be back in this environment?

Cappuccilli: It’s so much fun. Sean Guenther came in (on rehab assignment), and he goes, “This is the only place I haven’t been to. This is the best spot we have. This place is incredible.” Everybody who’s been through here makes comments about how great it is.

We go to other ballparks in the league, and this is a place that you just feel when you look around, you’re like, “This is incredible.” I mean, they’ve done such a great job with the renovations. Our fans are great. They support us. They aren’t disrespectful to the opponents. They’re just good fans.

They feel like good baseball fans. It feels like it’s a fun place to come hang out and watch baseball. You might just be sitting down here drinking beer and watching a game, or you could be an avid fan. I think it gives you the best of both worlds.

I think part of it is that we had gotten off to such a good start here because guys loved being here. And our record, the first few road trips, the first month-and-a-half of the season, wasn’t very good. Then we come back here and we’re pretty good.

I think that speaks to just the environment here and the fans that are here. I’ll even give Mitch (Hooten) credit. Obviously, we have the best field in the league. This is such a great place to play. I know guys are grateful for the fans and the field, and just everything that’s here.