ATLANTA -- Former Atlanta manager Fredi González was working for MLB as an umpire supervisor when the Braves were playing in his current hometown of Philadelphia last week. He spent time catching up with his good friend Brian Snitker in the visitor’s clubhouse before the series opener.
Less than one week later, the current Braves manager has added the former Atlanta skipper to his coaching staff.
Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos announced Monday night that González has replaced Matt Tuiasosopo as the team’s third-base coach. Tuiasosopo had been scrutinized for a few of his decisions over the past couple weeks.
But Anthopoulos said it was just a coincidence that Snitker and González met last week at Citizens Bank Park. He didn’t even mention González's name to his manager until Sunday, when the Braves lost for the eighth time in 11 games and found themselves with a better record than just three National League teams -- the Marlins, Pirates and Rockies.
“If we were going to make a change like this, we needed to know that we were bringing somebody in that had a lot of experience, was high level at this position and could hit the ground running,” Anthopoulos said.
González, 61, served as Bobby Cox’s third-base coach from 2003-06 and then returned to Atlanta to serve as the Hall of Fame manager’s successor from 2011-16. Snitker served as González's third-base coach from 2011-13 and then replaced him as Atlanta’s manager six weeks into the 2016 season.
González served as the Marlins’ third base coach from 2017-19 and the Orioles’ bench coach from 2020-24. Tuiasosopo had never served as a big league coach before he replaced Angels manager Ron Washington as Atlanta’s third-base coach before the 2024 season.
Tuiasosopo’s aggressive decision to send Ronald Acuña Jr. to the plate during Friday night’s loss to the Red Sox might have been the last straw. Acuña would have been out had Boston catcher Carlos Narváez not dropped the throw. Austin Riley wasn’t as fortunate when he was thrown out in the ninth inning of an extra-inning loss to the Nationals on May 22. As for Alex Verdugo, he was easily thrown out attempting to score in a one-run loss at Fenway Park on May 17.
“I felt like we could do better, with a guy like Fredi,” Anthopoulos said. “All the work I’ve done on him as a third base coach, he’s got a ton of experience and people rave about him.”
Anthopoulos said he hasn’t thought about making any other coaching changes. He remains hopeful this year’s team turns things around like his 2021 World Series-winning club that didn’t even have a winning record until August. The greater turnaround occurred the next year, when the Braves entered June four games under .500 (23-27) and captured the NL East with 101 wins.
“I look at run differential and things like that,” Anthopoulos said. “I look at expected wins and losses. Our expected win-loss record is 31-27 and our actual [27-31] is our actual. I don't want to run from that. But you have to look under the hood at times, and we played a ton of close games.
“I believe we're better than we've played. We're not getting blown off the field by any stretch. There's just been a lot of close games and a lot of little things that have impacted us, and those are the things that we need to tighten up.”
The Braves weren’t going to part ways with Tim Hyers two months into his tenure as hitting coach. It takes time for new philosophies and approaches to take shape. Unfortunately for Tuiasosopo, those ill-fated sends loomed large when trying to assess how to improve a team that has gone 9-14 in one-run games.
“We can be aggressive, whether it's making changes, whether it's making trades,” Anthopoulos said. “If we can, we're going to do that. I'm not wired any other way than to constantly look to find a way to do what we think can make this team better. We have full belief we need to play better.”