The departures of Ron Washington, Eric Young Sr. and Drew French left three vacancies on Braves manager Brian Snitker’s staff – a group that has experienced remarkable consistency given the club’s success with Snitker guiding it.
The Braves on Monday announced their hires for the open jobs. The cool part: Two will be first-time major-league coaches, and two are internal hires.
Matt Tuiasosopo is the new third base coach. Tom Goodwin will be the first base coach. Erick Abreu is the bullpen coach.
Walt Weiss, Snitker’s bench coach, will also oversee the infield this season – something Washington did in years past. Tuiasosopo will assist Weiss.
Tuiasosopo, who is 37, seemed like a straightforward fit for this job. For one, he spent time as the organization’s Triple-A manager. But when Washington missed a day over the summer to attend his induction into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, Tuiasosopo filled in for him.
In three seasons at the helm for Gwinnett, Tuiasosopo had a 210-215 record – though minor-league managerial records can be meaningless because development and aiding the big-league club are paramount in the minors. Tuiasosopo managed in Atlanta’s system for four seasons, and with Class-A Rome in 2019, his debut year, he won the Bobby Cox Award for being the organization’s top minor-league manager.
Before the 55-year-old Goodwin earned this promotion, he’d served as a roving instructor with Atlanta’s minor-league affiliates. But this won’t be his first opportunity on a big-league staff. Goodwin, who won a World Series with Boston in 2018, served as the Red Sox first base coach from 2018-21. He was the Mets’ first base coach from 2012-17.
Abreu, who is 40, worked the last nine seasons as a pitching coach in Houston’s organization – including the previous three years with the Astros’ Triple-A affiliate. Before this, he served in pitching coach roles with the Astros’ Dominican Summer League (2014-15) and Gulf Coast League (2016) affiliates before earning promotions to coach with rookie-level Greeinville (2017), Class-A Tri-City (2018) and High-A Quad City (2019).
Snitker, who has been part of Atlanta’s organization since signing as a non-dratfed free agent in 1977, managed in the minors for years and years before becoming Atlanta’s interim manager in 2016. He was, as he puts it, “recycled” a few times – brought up to the big-league staff, then asked to head back to the minors. Given his story, it’s fitting that the Braves – who seem to do a nice job of promoting their own when they can – hired two coaches (Tuiasosopo and Goodwin) already in the system.
Goodwin and Tuiasosopo both played in the major leagues. Abreu was a minor-league righty in the Yankees and Astros’ systems.
Goodwin, an outfielder for parts of 14 seasons, debuted with the Dodgers in 1991 and ended with the Cubs in 2004. He batted .268 with a .671 OPS. He had 24 homers, 284 RBI and 369 stolen bases.
Tuiasosopo played in the bigs for parts of five seasons, including for the Braves in 2016. In 155 career games, he played everywhere, from first base to second base to third base to left field.
During the general managers meetings in November, the Angels hired Washington – Atlanta’s former third base and infield coach – to be their manager. Washington took Young, the Braves’ first base coach who also oversaw the outfielders, to be the third base coach in Anaheim. Washington spent seven seasons in Atlanta, and Young was here for six.
More recently, the Orioles hired French to be their pitching coach – a promotion for him. French was the Braves’ bullpen coach for three years.
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