He is a top-5 manager in the Majors.
Rating: 7.53
Date of birth: July 25, 1965 (59 years old)
2024 stats: 89 wins-73 losses, 5 wins better than the previous season.
2024 salary: Neighborhood of $1 Million plus.
2025 status: 9th season as Manager of the Diamondbacks.
Vote Breakdown:
AZ Snake Pit.
Introduction.
When I attended a game at Chase Field, I saw that Torey Lovullo had intense conversations with just about everybody on the field. Almost certainly, his conversations have a positive impact on the games.
His managing skill is widely known. he is likely one of the best 5 managers in the Majors.
- In 2017, he won NL manager of the year.
- In 2024 he finished fourth in the voting for NL manager of the year (the same as 2023).
In 2023, he managed the Diamondbacks into the World Series. In 2024, they won five more games than 2023. One spectacular accomplishment was that in 2024 they scored the most runs of any team in the Majors.
Clearly, based on results from the last two seasons, he is a better manager than he was in 2017.
Let’s look at who he is and his keys to managing the Diamondbacks.
Who is Torey Lovullo?
He is many things. Some of his traits follow:
- Great Listener and Communicator.
- He builds relationships of caring and trust.
- He has deep respect for baseball knowledge and wisdom.
- He emphasizes that his coaches focus on being great teachers.
- Burning desire to win the World Series.
- Motivates players and emphasizes the mental game.
- His teams win in uncommon ways like winning the inch.
- His players focus on what can be controlled today, knowing today is the most important game of the season.
What are his three keys to managing success?
Key 1. Have high standards. In 2024, my view is that he evolved from having expectations for his players to having standards for his players. I’ve thought about this change. Perhaps reaching the World Series made the next season’s expectations unrealistically high. With unrealistically high expectations, perhaps a disappointing lost game could be enough to negatively impact the players. Therefore, focusing on standards was better because it allowed players to bounce back quicker from the inevitable losses that happen in baseball.
A different possible reason is that perhaps it is easier to push standards higher than to push expectations higher. Support for the latter reason may be in the following quote.
“I said we have achieved a certain standard here. Let’s eliminate the word expectation and talk about what we have done and push that bar north. Let’s keep going and see how high we can raise that standard. We are always striving for perfection. And to me there is no perfect. You have to work everyday until you get as close as you possibly can to that.” —Torey Lovullo, March 2024
Key 2. Listen and communicate.
“…I feel the most important part of being a good coach is having good lines of communication. And that includes being a good listener, that’s part of being a good communicator. So, I like information that’s being shared. I like feelings and thoughts that are shared.” — Torey Lovullo, October 2024
Key 3. Win the mental game.
“… putting their mind in the right place is of the utmost importance for their performance….” — Torey Lovullo, November 2024
A few ideas about what it means to put their mind in the right place.
- Today is the most important game in the season. Know how will we win today (game plan, standards, and play with a competitive & relentless fire)?
- Win the inch.
- Quickly drop distractions.
- Quickly get over game-day events.
- Flush a loss in the previous game (after learning from it).
- Maintain mental and physical durability for the entire season. Keep good habits and maintain personal values & perspective.
History rhymes, but results can vary.
In the 2019 Season: “It [85 wins] wasn’t enough [to make the playoffs].” — Torey Lovullo
“But I’m jealous. I’m pissed; I’m jealous and angry that we’re not going to be able to put on one of those hoodie pullovers that has the special season saying for each team. And I’m going to be watching the [playoffs] with a lot of envy but I know what we got to do to get there, …” — Torey Lovullo, 29 Sept, 2019 pregame interview
“That’s a good year, all things considered – the changeover, the uncertainty, the unknown, creating a new culture, add-in culture. However, I don’t want to stand pat. I don’t want anyone to think that me, Mike Hazen, or the Diamondbacks, will sit tight and be satisfied with 85 wins. We want to go somewhere special.” — Torey Lovullo, 1 Oct, 2019 Burns and Gambo interview
In the 2024 Season: In a rhyming version of 2019, 89 wins wasn’t enough to make the playoffs. I’m confident that Torey Lovullo will not be satisfied with 89 wins next season. Results next season will be better than 2020. Unlike 2020, the 2025 season will not be impacted by COVID, so the Diamondbacks could possibly win 90 games!
Improving the team looks realistic, based on the following comment:
“I think one area that we need to improve upon is our pitching. We were at or near the bottom in a couple categories with some of our pitching. We need to improve upon that.” —Torey Lovullo, 19 October 2024
Summary.
Torey Lovullo is likely one of the best 5 managers in the Majors. His team reached the World Series and the following season they scored the most runs of any team in the Majors.
His 3 keys to success were:
- Have high standards.
- Listen and communicate.
- Win the mental game.
The Diamondbacks just missed the playoffs in 2019. In 2020, they might have reached the playoffs if it had not been for COVID.
History Rhymes, but results can vary. Similar to 2019, in 2024 the Diamondbacks just missed the playoffs. In the absense of any cataclysmic event, in 2025, it’s likely they will reach the playoffs.