CLEVELAND — Around 17 years ago, Stephen Vogt was a newly drafted, 22-year-old prospect walking into his first experience as a minor league baseball player.
As he walked into a hotel for the first time as a professional player in the Tampa Bay Rays organization in 2007, he hadn't yet met any of his new teammates. Then he ran into Alex Cobb .
Cobb had been drafted a year earlier than Vogt, but out of high school. Vogt, three years older than Cobb, had been a senior in college.
"He was actually the first teammate I ever met in pro ball," Vogt said. "We were going to Hudson Valley for short season and I met him at the hotel."
Seventeen years later, the duo has been reunited, this time as manager and player.
Cobb , now 36, was acquired by the Guardians in a deal with the San Francisco Giants before last week's deadline . And, quickly, the memories of life in the minor leagues came rushing back to him.
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"I just remember us hitting it off pretty quickly and being buds … and just immediately had flashbacks to … grinding it out in the minor leagues together," Cobb said. "You form a special bond when you're in the minor leagues together. I think especially back then, it was challenging. It was long bus rides, you were on your own for housing and everybody kind of bunked together, and you just got through it."
Cobb hasn't pitched in 2024 after undergoing hip surgery over the offseason and then struggling with multiple setbacks during his rehab. First, his experienced a shoulder issue, possibly the result of trying to rush back too fast. That delayed a possible return date in May. Then, just as he was ready to rejoin the Giants rotation, a blister developed on his pitching hand.
Because Cobb hasn't thrown a single pitch in a major league game this year, he didn't see himself as a trade candidate. But the Guardians needed starting pitching help, and that trade market became a hornet's nest at this year's deadline with sky-high asking prices.
"I didn't have much of a reaction at the time [of the trade], other than being super excited to get back with Vogter," Cobb said. "Him and [bench coach Craig Albernaz], those were two of my catchers in the minor leagues. I have great relationships with them."
As many players who are traded at the deadline will tell you, it can be a bit of whirlwind. With little warning, a traded player needs to quickly jump on a flight and travel to his new team. It can be overwhelming, especially when an entire family needs to move across the country on short notice. Bags need to be packed. Arrangements need to be made. Cobb's two kids were getting ready to start the new school year.
Cobb received some five-star assistance from his wife, Kelly.
"My wife has been an absolute rockstar," Cobb said. "I told her … and got home and the whole house is in boxes already, and then she's on the plane and she's emailing real estate agents in the area and she found us a house today. So she's made the transition as smooth as possible."
It won't be long until Cobb, who was an All-Star last season with the Giants, can join a Guardians rotation that has needed stability more than anything else in 2024 . Tanner Bibee and Ben Lively have been the lone high notes. Other than those two, it's been a revolving door of injuries ( Shane Bieber , Gavin Williams ) and trips to Triple-A Columbus ( Triston McKenzie , Logan Allen ) to try to get back on track.
For Cobb, who said he rushed back during his rehab because he feared he'd be "left behind," it's a chance to throw his first pitches of 2024 in the middle of a divisional race for a first-place team .
"I feel like I'm cheating on an exam or cutting a line, and I got placed onto a team that's put all the work in since early February to get to the point that they're at right now," Cobb said. "And I just kind of got placed on a potential postseason team that has all the aspirations to go deep into the postseason. So I feel very fortunate that I got put in this position."
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis1@gannett.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Threads at @ByRyanLewis .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Guardians trade for Alex Cobb reunites him with Stephen Vogt
