Atlanta Braves Hire Rehab Coordinator
By Fred Owens
After hiring or trading for what seemed liked every minor league pitcher recovering from TJ surgery, the Braves announced today that they’ve hired a Minor League pitching rehab coordinator. The man with that seemingly unending task is former Braves prospect Dan Meyer.
If the name Dan Meyer rings a bell somewhere in the recesses of your memory banks it’s because he was traded to Oakland along with Juan Cruz and Charles Thomas for Tim Hudson. After spending parts of three years in AAA for Oakland he finally got a cup of coffee with Oakland appearing in six games at the end of 2007. The next season saw him back in AAA and with another call up in August and September this time for 11 games. The Marlins claimed Meyer off waivers that off season and he spent two years with the Fish managed by Fredi Gonzalez, appearing in 71 games in 2009 posting a 3.09 ERA in 58 1/3 innings of relief. Multiple shoulder surgeries made that the high water mark of Meyer’s career.
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Last season Meyer acted as pitching coach for the Braves short season Rookie ball team in Danville. While he will no longer be with Danville part of his task as minor league rehab coordinator is still to act as a pitching coach specializing in rehab. According to a post by Mark Bowman the “minor league” in his title doesn’t preclude him from assisting with major league arms sent to Orlando as part of a rehab assignment.
Assistant director of player personnel Jonathan Schuerholz said Meyer will be in charge of carrying out the rehab regimen specified by the doctor’s involved and head trainer Jeff Porter at the Spring Training complex near Orlando. Schuerholz the younger went on to say that the position of rehab coordinator is a new one that made sense after the additions made this off season.
"“After the offseason restructuring of our staff, we had that need for a rehab pitching coordinator for the Minor Leagues, and saw that internally we had a fantastic option in Dan Meyer,” Schuerholz said. “He was a first-year pitching coach last year with a lot of promise, a lot of potential, and this is going to be one of those things that’s going to help him grow as a pitching coach, as well as help the organization.”"
That certainly make sense as much hope is being placed in newly acquired pitching prospects Max Fried and Danny Winkler making prevention of setbacks similar to those experienced by Jonny Venters, Brandon Beachy and Kris Medlen a priority.
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This seems like a prudent move and one that I suspect many teams will follow. With pitching at a premium and so many young arms arriving with lots of innings already logged, I suspect Meyer will be the busiest pitching coach in the Braves system.