Vogt: 'Not even a thought' he won't be ready Opening Day

Stephen Vogt says he’s confident that he’ll be ready for Opening Day following his recent elbow surgery.

The A’s catcher is scheduled to have the stitches removed from his right elbow Wednesday, after a Jan. 29 arthroscopic procedure that included removing a bone chip.

“I’ve got to talk to the training staff to see what the official timeline seems like,” Vogt said over the phone Tuesday. “But everybody I’ve talked to … there’s not even a thought that I won’t be ready. I don’t know how the recovery for this goes, but it feels like everybody is optimistic I’ll be playing in games by the second week or so” of exhibitions.

Vogt said he first began feeling pain in his elbow toward the end of last season, but he assumed that a full winter of rest would be the remedy. Once he began throwing and getting into heavier training activity, however, his elbow started acting up again.

“I had the pain and discomfort kind of the last month of the season, but it was one of those things I felt like it was gonna go away,” he said. “I wasn’t worried about it (with) four months to take off. It was starting to feel better early in the winter, then as I started to ramp up workouts late in the offseason, I started to feel it again. I didn’t want to play through pain. I just wanted to get it done.”

Vogt wore a sling for the first couple days after the surgery, which was performed by Dr. Jon Dickinson in San Francisco. He said he’s been able to do forearm strengthening exercises since the procedure and will be able to do more once the stitches are out.

Vogt was just outside of Los Angeles as he spoke Tuesday, making the long annual drive from his home in Washington down to the A’s spring training headquarters in Mesa, Ariz. Oakland’s pitchers and catchers officially report Feb. 20.

Given the circumstances, he’s likely in a similar frame of mind to last year at this time.

Vogt had right foot surgery in October 2014, and that kept him limited early in camp last season. He didn’t appear in his first exhibition until March 9, but he was in the Opening Night lineup and parlayed a terrific first half into his first All-Star Game selection.

This most recent surgery took place much closer to the start of spring training, and from that standpoint, it warrants at least a degree of concern. Josh Phegley is the only other player on the A’s spring roster with substantial major league catching experience.

But neither Vogt nor A’s general manager David Forst has expressed worry.

“With the timeline we had,” Vogt said, “given it was nine weeks from the surgery date to Opening Day, it was better to do it now than get to spring training and have it start to bother me and have to do it then.”