Colbrunn talks '01 team, post-career coaching

While baseball has been on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve spent time tracking down former D-backs players to see what they’re up to these days.

This week, I spoke with former D-backs infielder Greg Colbrunn, who is living with his wife and three daughters in South Carolina.

MLB.com: How’s your family doing?

Colbrunn: My wife is doing good. My oldest daughter will be a senior at Clemson. My middle daughter will be a freshman, I think she’s going to College of Charleston, and my youngest will be a freshman in high school here. Man, I’m getting old. I mean, we’re getting old. I turned 50 last July. How old are you now? You’ve got to be close to that.

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MLB.com: I turned 50 three days before you did last July.

Colbrunn: That’s right! I knew that. So you’ve got the aches and pains too, right?

MLB.com: Yeah, I’ve got them. Hard to believe you’re 50, right?

Colbrunn: Yeah, it’s scary. But actually, I think over the last year or so I’m in better shape than I was before I turned 50.

MLB.com: New workout program?

Colbrunn: I started playing tennis, believe it or not. My wife has been playing for like 10 years, and I went and played and I was like, “Holy cow, this is actually good exercise.” So I’ve taken it up the last three years and now over the last year or so I’ve been playing three or four times a week. It’s fun and it’s really good exercise, especially when you’re playing singles. I do that and ride my bike and go to the gym. Well, I was going to the gym but not now because it’s shut down.

MLB.com: And you’re working as a hitting consultant with the Marlins now?

Colbrunn: I was with the Yankees the previous five years. I moved to the Marlins because when [Derek] Jeter bought them he brought Gary Denbo over from the Yankees. Gary had run the Minor League system there and he was the guy who originally hired me. He was doing a really good job with the Yankees and now he’s with Jeter and he’s done a great job for the Marlins getting everything in a good direction.

MLB.com: What exactly is a hitting consultant?

Colbrunn: It’s a nice title, right? I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to be away from the family, because outside of working for the Red Sox [as their big league hitting coach] I’ve stayed in the Charleston area, where the Yankees have a farm team. So my job this year with the Marlins was supposed to be two weeks on the road visiting mainly their Double-A and Triple-A teams and then two weeks off each month. One of my main jobs was to check to see how the progress of some of those players was going and give my opinion as to whether they were ready to take the next step. I was really looking forward to that. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to do that.

MLB.com: Can you believe next year it will be 20 years since your 2001 team won the World Series?

Colbrunn: No, it’s gone by just like that. I still keep in contact with some of the guys like Damian Miller and I talk to Couns [Craig Counsell) once a month or so. I’ve been doing the Fantasy Camp, as you know, and so I get to see Gonzo (Luis Gonzalez), Gracie (Mark Grace), Greg Swindell, Matt Williams and Mike Morgan.

MLB.com: It seems to me that the 2001 team has stayed pretty close over the years.

Colbrunn: It’s been nice. The Fantasy Camp makes it easier because a bunch of us are there every January. Jay Bell I’ve seen because he was also coaching with the Yankees, so I would always spend a week a month with him. He thoroughly enjoys managing. When I would be with him we would call Stott [Todd Stottlemyre] or some of the other guys from ’01 just to give them a hard time. Have you talked to Jay lately?

MLB.com: I did talk with him a couple of weeks ago for one of these stories. He wanted to FaceTime me.

Colbrunn: Jay loves to FaceTime. (Laughter) I don’t know what it is, but he just loves to FaceTime.

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MLB.com: I was talking recently to former GM Joe Garagiola Jr. the other day, and he talked about your professionalism and ability to play well even though you were playing two or three times a week or pinch-hitting. That’s a tough role for a lot of players, how were you able to be successful at that?

Colbrunn: I don’t know. I mean, you don’t grow up wanting to be a platoon player or pinch-hitter, but for whatever reason I had a good feel for it. When I got traded to the Braves for bench strength because they had Andres Galarraga at first, [manager] Bobby [Cox] did a really good job of putting me in situations where I could have success. I went like 8-for-16 that year in the month and a half, and I had some hits in the playoffs. I was like, "Wow." Then when I signed with Colorado, a good friend of mine, John Vander Wal, was there and he was one of the best pinch-hitters in the game. Vandy told me as a pinch-hitter, 'You’re going to get one pitch to hit and you’ve got to be ready for it. It could be the first pitch, it could be a fastball, it could be a breaking ball, but whatever it is you better not miss it.'

MLB.com: I know you take a lot of pride in your managerial record at the D-backs annual Fantasy Camp...

Colbrunn: I had some questionable first-round picks in the past. (Laughter) I don’t want to name any names ... cough, cough Steve Gilbert.

MLB.com: As I was saying, you won two Fantasy Camp championships and played for it another time. I know you spent a lot of time while with the Yankees working in Charleston so you could prioritize and stay close to your family outside of your time as Boston’s hitting coach, and you’ve had success as a manager. Are you looking to manage again? What are you looking to do going forward?

Colbrunn: I don’t know. It’s been so much fun watching my kids grow up and go about their lives and not having to uproot them or go anywhere except for the two years in Boston. For the most part I don’t know. I’m just taking it one year at a time. I’ve had a couple of chances over the last couple of years to go back as a hitting coach, but I just wasn’t sure. We’ll see what happens.