This interview was conducted in July, and originally ran on the site then – it is being re-posted now that Porter has been hired to be the manager of the Houston Astros.
Bo Porter is in his second season as the Washington Nationals third base coach. It might be his last. The 40-year-old has already been considered for a couple big-league managerial positions, and that opportunity is likely to come again this winter. Highly regarded for his leadership skills, Porter has a degree in communications studies from the University of Iowa, where he was All-Big 10 in two sports.
Porter talked about the approach he’d bring to the manager’s job — and his willingness to go against conventional wisdom — when the Nationals visited Fenway Park in June.
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Porter on defensive positioning and shifts: “It all starts with the guy you have on the mound. Based on your pitcher and the hitter’s history, you factor in the probability of the ball being hit to a particular area of the field. You always have to defend that area first, and go from there.
‘Sometimes managers don’t shift because they don’t want to give up a portion of the field. But why not give up a portion of the field if the probability of the ball being hit there is one percent?
“I think my football background has a lot to do with my approach to the game and my thought process. As coach Fry would say, ‘You have to scratch where it itches.’ Playing football for Hayden Fry at the University of Iowa, you learned that if someone shows you something that you can take advantage of — whether it’s conventional or not — you’re doing your team an injustice by not taking advantage of it.”
On lineup construction: Read the rest of this entry »
