ATLANTA—Sure, Braves manager Walt Weiss said while standing behind the batting cage in Truist Park Thursday afternoon. He remembers the first time he met Cubs manager Craig Counsell.
Weiss was the Colorado Rockies starting shortstop. Counsell was the 11th-round draft pick out of Notre Dame, in his first big-league camp. This was 30-plus years ago.
“I felt like I was looking in the mirror a little bit when he got to the big leagues,’’ Weiss said, smiling at the memory.
“He was a young ‘me.’ I kind of took him under my wing. I took a liking to him right away when he was a kid.’’
The day before, Counsell had told reporters that Weiss used to buy him breakfast, back when they didn’t serve food to the players in spring training.
“He’s a good one, man,’’ Weiss said.
Future manager material?
“You never look at a young player in those terms for the most part,’’ Weiss said. “But he had a lot of stuff in order, you know. He was disciplined, he had work ethic. There was a high baseball IQ. So you look back now, and yeah, he had all the elements.’’
And now here they were, in opposing dugouts, as managers of the two teams with the best records in the National League. Weiss, who had come to peace with the possibility that he might not get another shot at managing after four years as Rockies manager, guiding the Braves to a 30-13 record, the first team in the majors to reach 30 wins.
Counsell, whose team this season already has had two 10-game winning streaks, trying to find a way to break a four-game losing streak to Weiss and Atlanta.
Weiss was promoted from bench coach after Brian Snitker, the team’s previous manager and Bobby Cox disciple, took a senior advisory role. Alex Anthopoulos, the team’s president of baseball operations, placed a call to Weiss.
“I got my juices flowing once he asked me,’’ Weiss said, “and I started thinking about doing it here. Yeah, I really wanted to get that job. I knew the team so well, I’m so emotionally attached.’’
Weiss is well aware of how good the Cubs are, especially on defense.
“The cliche about [strength] up the middle, right?” Weiss said. “That guy in center field (Pete Crow-Armstrong) is a game-changer. I’ve known Dansby (Swanson) for a long time. We had him here for years. Nico (Hoerner). I love the guy.
“[The defense] is part of the reason [the Cubs] are going to be tough to deal with. It goes hand in hand with the run prevention thing, defense and good pitching.
“We’re a good defensive team, too. That’s why it would be a great matchup in October, if we get there.’’
Weiss tells the story of an early conversation with Swanson, who came to the Braves as the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
“This was my first year with the Braves,’’ Weiss said. “I was the bench coach. He was a young shortstop. We were in the outfield, in Orlando, Disney [where the Braves trained], and he was a 1-1 pick, there was a lot of hype, people were saying he wasn’t really a 1-1.
“He’s finding his way as a young player in this league and had some struggles, and he was dealing with that.
“And I told him, ‘Dansby the only thing that matters is whether or not we can win a championship with you as our shortstop. Nothing else matters. That’s how you judge yourself.’’’
Three years later, in 2021, the Braves won the World Series. In the postgame jubilation on the field, Swanson found Weiss.
“We won a championship with me at short,’’ he said.
“He remembered that conversation,’’ Weiss said. “I still get goosebumps telling that story.’’
Swanson is still looking for his first championship in Chicago. Fire up the goosebumps.