The Springfield native and former Miami University outfielder who won a World Series championship with the Washington Nationals in 2019 will return to the big leagues for the first time since retiring after the 2021 season.
The lessons learned from Fitzwater, who died in June at 85, will stick with Eaton as he coaches first base next season.
“He was telling jokes and having a good time over there,” Eaton said, “which is valuable. You want to keep these guys loose.”
Eaton spent the last three seasons working as the director of player development for Michigan State baseball. He worked close to home. East Lansing is 42 miles from Brighton, Mich., where Eaton lives with his wife Katie and their sons, Brayden, 9, and Maverick, 7.
Michigan will remain home for the Eatons, but they will visit California often. The Angels also play many games around the Midwest, where they can share in the experience of Eaton returning to Major League Baseball.
“It’s kind of a big jump to go to the West Coast,” Eaton said, “but my boys are at that age where I kind of want this experience for them. My youngest is a huge baseball fan, and I want him to have the experience of seeing me on the field. Of course, he doesn’t remember when I played.”
Eaton will work on the staff of new Angels manager Kurt Suzuki. They were teammates in 2019 and 2020 with the Nationals and in 2021 when Eaton finished his career with a 25-game stint with the Angels.
“Kurt kind of always told me, ‘Hey, if I ever get a managing job, you’ll be my first base coach,’” Eaton said. “It was always kind of a joke — not really thinking that that would happen sooner than later. But he was hired on a Monday and called me within an hour. He’s like, ‘We’re really doing this. I’m sticking to my word. You’re my guy at first, if you want it.’"
Eaton took some time to think about the opportunity. He had been out of the big-league game for four years. But his experience at Michigan State helped prepare him for this. He credited Michigan State head coach Jake Boss and his staff for helping him keep his foot in the door.
As he coaches first base for the Angels, Eaton plans to lean on what he learned at Michigan State but also on his experiences in a 10-year big-league career. Eaton hit .276 and collected 950 hits plus 376 walks. He has spent a large chunk of his life at first base.
“I’ve had some unbelievable first base coaches,” Eaton said. “Even though I was more focused on what I was trying to do, the communication factor and what they did there to keep me safe at first as well as keeping me aggressive is what I’m more or less going to lean on when I do get over there with these guys.”
As an outfield instructor, Eaton can use the knowledge he gathered at all the different big-league ballparks. He split time between right field and center field in his career but also spent time in left field.
“The reason why I enjoy being a coach is because I have made so many mistakes on the field,” Eaton said, “and to be able to learn from those mistakes and get better through those mistakes, as well as watch a lot of other guys have mistakes as well as have success and learn through that, that’s something that I think I can bring to the table.
“Whatever you’ve done out there, I’ve done it tenfold. I’ve run into walls, I’ve overplayed balls. I’ve overthrown the cut-off man, I’ve underthrown the cut-off man. I’ve thrown to the wrong base. I’ve literally done everything wrong in this game. When it comes to the outfielders, I’m going to let them know that I’ve done a lot of immature things on this field, but I’ve learned from it. Hopefully, we can give these guys a nice vision, a nice path as a unit going forward.”
Eaton will return to the grind of the 162-game season. He played in 1,299 games in his career, counting big-league games and minor league games. He debuted with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2012, two years after being drafted in the 19th round.
“I’m very excited to be around people that just want to be elite,” he said. “I’m very excited to be around people that want to tackle the 162-game season. I love gravitating towards people that just want more and need more and do it at the highest level through the most amount of games to be played.”
Credit: Submitted photo
Credit: Submitted photo
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