Bo Porter Excited To Be With Atlanta Braves
Bo Porter has filled several different roles during his time in Major League Baseball.
Porter was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 40th round of the 1993 draft. He went on to play parts of three seasons (1999, 2000, and 2001) in the big leagues with the Cubs, Oakland Athletics and Texas Rangers.
From there, Porter became a minor league hitting coach in 2005 and worked his way up to the big leagues in 2007 as a third base coach for the Florida Marlins.
Porter finally got his big break after stops as a coach with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Washington Nationals. The Houston Astros named him the team’s manager prior to the 2013 season.
He spent nearly two seasons as the Astros’ manager before getting fired on September 1, 2014.
Porter received a call from an old friend just over a month later: Atlanta Braves Manager Fredi Gonzalez. He wanted Porter to be his third base coach.
“I am relishing in the role of being the third base coach here with the Braves,” Porter tells WEBN. “Being reunited with Fredi [Gonzalez]. I was the third base coach with him when we were with the Marlins. I’m excited.”
Porter comes to a Braves team that’s in the middle of rebuilding. The team traded away left fielder Justin Upton, the team’s leader in home runs in 2014, right fielder Jayson Heyward, a Gold Glover in 2014, and Evan Gattis, who was second to Upton in home runs with 22.
Despite the turnover in the roster, Porter believes the Braves can still compete in the National League.
“I think this is more of a restart,” Porter tells WEBN. “I think we’ve done a tremendous job this offseason of retooling the minor league system, but at the same time adding some guys to the major league team so that we can be competitive this year as well.”