This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman’s Braves Beat publication. To learn the complete publication, click on right here. And subscribe to get it frequently in your inbox.
ATLANTA — Fredi González spent the previous few a long time surrounded by nice gamers like Chipper Jones, Miguel Cabrera and Gunnar Henderson. He spent this previous spring serving as a volunteer coach at Ursinus School, a NAIA faculty situated close to his Philadelphia-area house.
As an alternative of basking within the solar throughout Spring Coaching, he handled the winter chill on these days when it was heat sufficient for the gamers to depart the health club for a couple of minutes to play catch. As an alternative of serving to to mould Main Leaguers, he was simply delighting within the alternative to be round younger gamers, whose ardour for baseball typically outweighed their bodily abilities.
Ursinus completed 20-20, an eight-win enchancment from the 2024 season, however not ok to qualify for the postseason.
“I instructed the youngsters on the final recreation that they did extra for me at this level of my profession than I did for them,” González mentioned. “You get one thing taken away from you in October and you’ll’t get again within the recreation and also you don’t go to Spring Coaching for the primary time in 40 years, I instructed my spouse I must go volunteer and provides again. It was actually enjoyable.”
González actually regarded content material after we noticed him final week whereas the Braves had been in Philadelphia. It harm when the Orioles didn’t retain him as their bench coach on the finish of final yr. However he stayed busy and near the sport.
Together with serving as a volunteer coach, González just lately hung out making $300 a recreation to guage umpires for MLB. He even just lately purchased a ticket to see Paul Skenes pitch in Philadelphia. And as just lately as this previous Friday, he crammed in for Braves broadcaster C.J. Nitkowski on Sirius XM.
González can also be already lined as much as be a part of Brian McCann as a member of supervisor Mark DeRosa’s Crew USA teaching workers throughout subsequent yr’s World Baseball Traditional.
“My spouse instructed me, ‘You’re the busiest unemployed individual I’ve ever seen,’” González mentioned with fun.
Effectively, life acquired slightly busier on Sunday morning when González noticed a textual content from a quantity he didn’t acknowledge. He heeded Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos’ request to name him and was provided the prospect to turn into Atlanta’s third-base coach.
This was utterly out of the blue. González sat in Braves supervisor Brian Snitker’s workplace 5 days earlier, simply catching up along with his longtime buddy. For the skeptics who consider the ball was put in movement with this assembly final week, the workplace door was by no means closed. The Athletic’s David O’Brien and I went in Snitker’s workplace to meet up with González like we did again earlier than all interviews with managers had been staged in a stale interview room.
It actually was only a coincidence that González acquired this name a couple of days after being within the Braves’ clubhouse as a customer. So, yeah I consider he was shocked when he was provided the prospect to switch Matt Tuiasosopo, whose reign as Atlanta’s third-base coach basically ended Friday night time, when he practically acquired Ronald Acuña Jr. thrown out on the plate and presumably injured.
Why was González keen to just accept this job in the midst of a season? One motive was the sturdy bond he shares with Snitker, the person who changed him as Atlanta’s supervisor six weeks into the 2016 season. González despatched Snitker a bottle of champagne after his first profession victory and continued to assist his pal from afar.
González’s son Alex lives in Atlanta and his daughter Gigi lives a couple of hours away in Statesboro. They’ll all be collectively for Father’s Day for the primary time in latest reminiscence.
However probably the most important pull again to Atlanta could have been the prospect to rejoin Bobby Cox’s workforce. González began to get choked up on Tuesday when he started talking about Cox. González served because the Corridor of Fame supervisor’s third-base coach from 2003-06.
When González left to turn into the Marlins supervisor in 2007, Snitker grew to become Cox’s third-base coach in Atlanta. Snitker remained in that function when González returned to Atlanta to turn into the Braves supervisor in ’11.
And naturally, Snitker changed González as Atlanta’s supervisor a couple of years later.
Snitker and González will without end be linked as a pair of coaches who’ve all the time strived to make Cox proud. This bond will permit them to work as soon as once more with no trace of awkwardness.
“There’s solely a handful of individuals, after I say a handful, I imply lower than 5, that I’d do that for, and Snit is one,” González mentioned.
