Catching Up With Fredi González
Major League Coach Fredi González is in his second year with the Orioles after joining the organization in 2019, and his 32nd season in professional baseball as a coach or manager. His resume includes three-plus years as the Florida Marlins manager from 2007-2010, and five-plus years as the Atlanta Braves manager from 2011-2016. While with the Braves, González posted a record of 434-413 and finished in the top five BBWAA Manager of the Year voting four times, including a third-place finish in 2013. González led the Braves to the National League East division title in 2013, and their first-ever Wild Card Game in 2012.
In this week’s episode of “Inside the Yard,” González sits down with Geoff Arnold and Brett Hollander to talk about everything from the daily aspects of his job looks and how the coaching staff comes up with their game.
“Before every game the coaching staff will sit down and we try to map out what the game is going to look like, who’s available in the bullpen,” said González. “And you always go to the bullpen or the pitching because that’s the most important part of the thing. I never talk to them about running or stealing, I’m always worried about the pitching and who’s coming up and how many innings and who’s available that day. That’s the beginning of the strategy meeting one hour before the game, we talk about who is available and then we go from there.”
González also discusses some of the challenges the coaching staff faces when making their preparations, especially coming off last year’s shortened season, and how that has impacted the way they do their jobs.
“We monitor everything in the bullpen,” said González. “How many pitches they threw during warm ups, how many times they got up without going into the game, and try to manage that. It’s a long season, and we monitor everything. A lot of teams can survive injury to the pitching staff, but we don’t have that depth yet. The guys who are here are valuable to us and we want to keep them healthy as much as we can.”
Hollander asked González about his early observations when meeting Brandon Hyde, who served as a minor league coach under González while he was at Miami.
“I thought this guy was a superstar,” said González. “You give Hyde a responsibility, and you would watch from afar and it would be on-point, detailed, organized. There was no messing around. Right away you knew this guy was going to be a superstar. But I think [he and Tim Cossins] are awesome coaches, and people.”
The trio also touched on off-the-field topics, like González going back to college, which was inspired over Thanksgiving dinner.
“I think I still have 48 credits to go,” said González. “I went back and took a couple of classes online and it was hard. I was doing it during Spring Training, and I was getting up at three in the morning and getting it all done. The teacher even said, ‘You’re turning these projects in at four o’clock in the morning, are you really doing this?’ I proved to myself that I can learn, even though that first week that lady sounded like the Charlie Brown teacher. But it was fun.”
They end with their “Fun Five,” asking González about his favorite baseball movie, his high school senior year batting average, most influential baseball person in his life, his favorite minor league city to play or visit, and one talent or hobby he has outside baseball.
“I play the trumpet,” said González. “I took it out of the box last winter, I have it in my basement and every once and awhile I’ll play a couple notes I can remember. But I can play the trumpet, and it’s a cool thing.”
You can listen to the full podcast episode here or wherever you stream podcasts.