Rating MLB Managers By Playing Ability

The vast majority of major-league managers played baseball at some point, though a fair number of them never made the major leagues. But which MLB managers were the best players?

I checked out the playing stats for all the 2011 managers, plus the 4 managers who have been hired for 2012 but didn’t manage in 2011. I then broke the managers into tiers. First up, the stars (there aren’t many):

Star Players (3)

Robin Ventura

, White Sox (new in 2012)
Career: 55.5 WAR (16 seasons)
Best year: 6.7 WAR in 671 PA

Don Mattingly

, Dodgers
Career: 39.8 WAR (14 seasons)
Best year: 6.9 WAR in 742 PA

Kirk Gibson

, Diamondbacks
Career: 37.1 WAR (17 seasons)
Best year: 7.3 WAR in 632 PA

Solid Regulars (5)

Dusty Baker

, Reds
Career: 34.8 WAR (19 seasons)
Best year: 4.5 WAR in 638 PA

Davey Johnson

, Nationals
Career: 24.5 WAR (13 seasons)
Best year: 4.5 WAR in 574 PA

Mike Scioscia

, Angels
Career: 23.7 WAR (13 seasons)
Best year: 4.9 WAR in 526 PA

Bud Black

, Padres
Career: 19.6 WAR (15 seasons)
Best year: 4.5 WAR in 257 IP

Ozzie Guillen

, White Sox (2011) / Marlins (2012)
Career: 15.9 WAR (16 seasons)
Best year: 3.5 WAR in 604 PA

Hung Around And Did OK (8)

John Farrell

, Blue Jays
Career: 6.1 WAR (8 seasons)
Best year: 2.8 WAR in 208 IP

Joe Girardi

, Yankees
Career: 4.8 WAR (15 seasons)
Best year: 1.3 WAR in 407 PA

Clint Hurdle

, Pirates
Career: 3.0 WAR (10 seasons)
Best year: 1.6 WAR in 481 PA

Ron Roenicke

, Brewers
Career: 2.8 WAR (8 seasons)
Best year: 1.5 WAR in 170 PA

Mike Matheny

, Cardinals (new in 2012)
Career: 2.6 WAR (13 seasons)
Best year: 2.2 WAR in 464 PA

Bruce Bochy

, Giants
Career: 2.0 WAR (9 seasons)
Best year: 1.1 WAR in 142 PA

Bob Melvin

, A’s
Career: 0.9 WAR (10 seasons)
Best year: 0.9 WAR in 265 PA

Bobby Valentine

, Red Sox (new in 2012)
Career: 0.8 WAR (9 seasons)
Best year: 0.5 WAR in 434 PA

Hung Around And Probably Shouldn’t Have (6)

Ron Washington

, Rangers
Career: -0.3 WAR (10 seasons)
Best year: 1.3 WAR in 206 PA

Tony LaRussa

, Cardinals (2011)
Career: -1.0 WAR (6 seasons)
Best year: -0.3 WAR in 123 PA

Charlie Manuel

, Phillies
Career: -2.1 WAR (6 seasons)
Best year: -0.8 WAR in 194 PA

Dale Sveum

, Cubs (new in 2012)
Career: -2.6 WAR (12 seasons)
Best year: 0.8 WAR in 586 PA

Terry Francona

, Red Sox (2011)
Career: -3.7 WAR (10 seasons)
Best year: 1.1 WAR in 223 PA

Ned Yost

, Royals
Career: -4.1 WAR (6 seasons)
Best year: 0.2 WAR in 107 PA

Barely Played (7)

Bob Geren

, A’s (2011)
Career: 0.6 WAR (5 seasons)
Best year: 1.6 WAR in 225 PA

Ron Gardenhire

, Twins
Career: 0.5 WAR (5 seasons)
Best year: 0.6 WAR in 218 PA

Eric Wedge

, Mariners
Career: 0.0 WAR (4 seasons)
Best year: 0.3 WAR in 81 PA

Edwin Rodriguez

, Marlins (2011)
Career: -0.2 WAR (3 seasons)
Best year: -0.1 WAR in 14 PA

Don Cooper

, White Sox (2011 interim)
Career: -0.6 WAR (4 seasons)
Best year: 0.0 WAR in 58.2 IP

Jim Tracy

, Rockies
Career: -0.7 WAR (2 seasons)
Best year: -0.4 WAR in 137 PA

Brad Mills

, Astros
Career: -0.8 WAR (4 seasons)
Best year: 0.1 WAR in 66 PA

Never Played In MLB (11)

Manny Acta

, Indians
Terry Collins , Mets
Fredi Gonzalez , Braves
Brandon Hyde , Marlins (2011 interim)
Jim Leyland , Tigers
Joe Maddon , Rays
Jack McKeon , Marlins (2011)
John McLaren , Nationals (2011 interim)
Mike Quade , Cubs (2011)
Jim Riggleman , Nationals (2011)
Buck Showalter , Orioles

For the 2012 season, there will be 8 managers who were stars or solid regulars, 8 who were decent role-players, 8 who barely played or were bad when they did play, and 6 who never made it to MLB at all. That’s an interesting breakdown in that it is so evenly distributed.

On the one hand, you’d think that there’d be fewer good players, since the players capable of thriving on the MLB level represent such a small minority of those who play pro baseball. On the other hand, though, the better players have more name recognition and have more opportunities to learn the art of managing while playing at the MLB level.

It seems that, for the 2012 season anyway, these factors have balanced each other out. I should note, though, that the 3 best players who are now managing (Ventura, Mattingly, and Gibson) are also 3 of the newest managers, with none having more than 1 season of experience. Getting a managing job is one thing; being successful once you get it is quite another.

Of the top 20 managers in wins all-time, 3 were what I’d call star players: Joe McCarthy

, Joe Torre , and Fred Clarke . Most of the other 17 were mediocre or worse. Given the odds, I guess that’s about what I’d expect, but it does make me curious to see what kind of managerial careers Ventura, Mattingly, and Gibson end up having. Gibson is already off to a good start, winning the NL West in his first year, but it’s obviously way too soon to say where these guys’ managerial careers will end up.