The Atlanta Braves brought back former manager Fredi Gonzalez back to coach third base on Tuesday after a series of base-running blunders.
He replaces Matt Tuiasosopo, who accepted a new position as a minor league infield coordinator.
The Braves have seen four runners thrown out at home plate this season, including a crucial ninth-inning play in a 2-1 loss to the San Diego Padres on May 23 and an easy cut-down of Alex Verdugo by Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran in a 7-6 loss on May 17.
It’s a role reversal as Gonzalez, 61, joins manager Brian Snitker’s coaching staff.
Snitker was the third-base coach for the first two years of Gonzalez’s stint as Atlanta’s skipper from 2011-16. The Braves had a .512 winning percentage under Gonzalez and made the playoffs in 2012 and 2013. But after a 67-95 record in 2015 and a rough start to 2016, Snitker replaced Gonzalez in May of that year.
General manager Alex Anthopoulos said the team didn’t seriously consider making the change at third base until Sunday, and that Gonzalez’s availability was key to the decision.
“If he hadn’t been available, I can’t tell you we would have made this move, because it wasn’t just make it to make it,” Anthopoulos said, per The Athletic. “It had to be the right person and someone that could hit the ground running that we knew would be successful at it. And Fredi’s proven that at the big-league level for years.”
Gonzalez also managed the Miami Marlins from 2007-10, winning The Sporting News Manager of the Year award in 2008, and returned to the Marlins to coach third base from 2017-19.
Most recently, he spent five seasons coaching with the Baltimore Orioles before being let go at the end of the 2024 campaign.
–Field Level Media
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