© Darren Yamashita | 2021 Aug 21
On the Giants’ off-day following the Bay Bridge Series, Ron Wotus flew to his home state of Connecticut to celebrate his mother’s birthday. It was the first time since he’d said happy birthday to her in person since high school.
The life of a ballplayer (and coach).
Wotus, 60, has been with the Giants organization for 34 years in various roles, first as a player in 1989 and then as a minor league manager and later a big league coach. As the longest-tenured coach in San Francisco Giants history, he became the second coach to reach 2,000 wins this year.
Wotus announced Tuesday he’ll step away from his full-time coaching duties this offseason. He said he’s been blessed with his time here and is going to miss coaching. But the day-to-day grind of 162-game MLB seasons every year since his debut as a player in 1983 have caused plenty of missed family time. He wants to make some of that up.
He’s stayed with the Giants through several changes in leadership. He’s coached under Dusty Baker, Felipe Alou, Bruce Bochy and now Gabe Kapler. He’s played a role in each of the Giants’ three World Series teams, a reminder of which happens every game for the 2021 club when Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt take the field.
For now, Wotus’ focus remains on the pennant race shaping the last month of the regular season.
“Nothing has changed,” Wotus said. I’m not going off to Europe or getting on a boat and sailing across the world and retiring or anything like that. It’s just time for me to maybe choose a different path, hopefully help the organization in a different way.”
This wasn’t an abrupt decision for Wotus. He’s thought about it for a while. Wotus expects to remain with the organization in a baseball operations role — which he said the front office and ownership are on board for — and Kapler envisions him helping out hands-on on the field if it suits Wotus.
So why make the announcement now? Transparency, in short. Wotus has been discussing a potential new role with president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and general manager Scott Harris, and he didn’t want the news to leak. Wotus addressed the team last night.
After the the news broke, Wotus’ phone blew up with messages from former Giants players and other people who he’d made connections with around baseball. It was surprising and special, Wotus said, and made the day “not easy in that regard.”
Still, he’s grateful. For all his years with the Giants organization, and for the future’s opportunities.
“Life is good,” Wotus said. “Especially being in first place with a month left in the season. Life is very good.”
- Infielder Evan Longoria received a cortisone shot for his left hand injury Tuesday because it’s still not feeling totally right Kapler said. Longoria is expected to start swinging in the next couple days and could return from the 10-day injured list soon.
- Alex Dickerson was moved down to the eight-spot in the batting order ahead of Tuesday’s matchup with the Brewers. He’s hitting .236 on the year after slashing .298/.371/.576 in 2020. Kapler mentioned Dickerson has been dealing with a minor calf injury this season, and has been the victim of just missing pitches and making hard-hit outs.
- Johnny Cueto will start the second game of the Milwaukee series a day after he was scratched. Cueto received IV fluids to counteract the cold and flu symptoms he was feeling yesterday and help him sleep better.
