With the departures of Ron Washington, Eric Young Sr. and Drew French, the Braves had three vacancies that had to be filled before the start of the season, which they made public today via the team’s official account.
For third base, the Braves opted to promote from within, naming last year’s Gwinnett Stripers manager Matt Tuiasosopo the new third base coach in Atlanta. As a player, he bounced between the majors and minors from 2004-2018, spending parts of five seasons in the bigs. In 2019, Tuiasosopo was named the manager of the Rome Braves and was awarded the Bobby Cox award given to the organization’s top manager. He’s spent the last three seasons managing in Gwinnett and will now get his first crack as a coach in the majors.
Tom Godwin has also been with the organization for the last two years and has experience as a major-league first base coach with the Red Sox and Mets, winning the 2018 World Series with Boston.
Erick Abreu is perhaps the most intriguing hire of the three, as he will serve as the Braves new bullpen coach. The 40-year-old has spent the last nine seasons coaching pitchers in the Houston Astros organization, most recently serving as the pitching coach for their AAA affiliate. Given how much success the Astros have had at developing pitchers over the years, this is a substantial addition to Brian Snitker‘s staff that could prove hugely beneficial, especially for the Braves younger arms.
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