New Spokane Indians manager Tom Sutaris talks about managerial style, teaching aspect of craft | Press Box Podcast

The Spokane Indians, in conjunction with their parent club the Colorado Rockies, announced last week that Tom Sutaris will take over as manager for the 2026 season after serving as bench coach the past two seasons under previous manager Robinson Cancel, who was named manager at Double-A Hartford.

Sutaris enters his third season in Spokane and his ninth in the Rockies organization. He was Hartford’s hitting coach from 2021-23.

Sutaris spent 2018-19 with High-A Lancaster and served as an assistant baseball coach at the University of Incarnate Word in 2017 and a special assistant for the University of Texas baseball team from 2014-17. The Toms River, New Jersey native played professionally in the independent Frontier Baseball League from 1993-96, earning All-Star nods in 1993 and 1996, while also serving as the team’s hitting coach in 1995.

Sutaris joined the Press Box Podcast last week remotely from Spring Training in Arizona to talk about his role as a teacher, his managerial style and some of the players he’s had a chance to work with in the Colorado Rockies organization.

Here’s an excerpt, edited for space considerations. The entire audio podcast can be found at www.spokesman.com/podcasts/press-box/ and the videocast at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be2IgW5VkPk.

On his first managerial experience

Sutaris: I got to do a lot of that last year in the bench coach role, helping Robby out and I learned quite a bit about it. I’m going to continue to learn more about it, but obviously I’ve been around the game a long time. These gray hairs will tell you how long I’ve been around. I’ve seen enough baseball my life and I’ve been around – I just haven’t been in this position before to make these decisions.

I’ve made these decisions mentally for many years and you know, you manage games (in your head) and when you’re in the game this long, I don’t think you watch games anymore as a fan. You watch them as a coach. You know, you make decisions and sometimes you’re like, ‘I wouldn’t have done that.’ Or, ‘Hey, that was a pretty good decision. Maybe I would have made it that differently.’ But I think we’re always like trying to make decisions about the game. It’s in our blood.

And you know, my mother, it’s funny, God rest her soul, she would tell me all the time, ‘Hey, you’re not going to just play baseball your whole life.’ And here I am at 56 years old, still in the game of baseball.

On his managerial style

Sutaris: We’re still learning a little bit about what our front office is looking at (for the roster), but I think for me, it’s going to always be aggressive baseball. I love the way Robby ran the team. I thought he did a really nice job. We’re continue going to be aggressive and obviously it depends on the personnel you get every time, but you know, I believe in aggressive baseball – you’ve got to win 90 feet offensively. And defensively, you’ve got to prevent 90 feet. Obviously the hits are going to take care of themselves in that part of the game and the pitching, but I believe in playing aggressive baseball.

I think the big thing for us is we really want to prepare like professionals. Our goal is to help these kids perform here in Spokane, but more importantly, we want to see them, help them eventually in Denver. You know, that’s not to discount what we’re doing this year, but we have to look at the ultimate goal of how is he going to help our team in Denver, you know, bring a World Series. So, that’s what we’re going to always work towards – developing guys that are going to make an impact at the highest level of the game.”

On being a teacher first

Sutaris: From High-A to the big leagues now it’s going a lot quicker for guys. Like the development, the big leagues are getting younger and younger. Those veteran guys that were, you know, keep getting re-signed and hanging on, it’s like they’re kind of getting phased out and these young kids are getting pushed along quicker. I think it only accelerates what we have to do down here in terms of the teaching process and that’s what I’m really excited about.

My background is I spent 10 years in the classroom as a teacher and I was a high school coach, and then I was a college coach. … There’s a lot of different levels that I’ve been at in the game, but it’s always been about teaching. I love teaching. And it’s funny, being a classroom teacher for those early years after I coached some college ball and then I went back into the classroom, I learned so much about how to teach, how to reach different kids and I think that’s sometimes a missing ingredient in coaching.

Coaching and teaching are the same thing – you have to figure out ‘Hey this kid learns in a different way, how do I connect with this guy whose brain works totally different.’ There’s language barriers, there’s cultural barriers, and you have to just find ways to connect with them. I feel so blessed that I had that opportunity to be a classroom teacher because I think it has made me a better teacher here, but we have to teach every single day we have these kids. It can’t be ‘Just another day’ ever. It’s every day we’re trying to get them better.