Former Giants manager Bruce Bochy faces his old team for first time

SURPRISE, Arizona — Bruce Bochy is reminded every day of what drew him back.

The daily drives to the ballpark. The early-morning meetings with coaches. The random interactions — and relationships — with players in the clubhouse. Most of all, the game itself, even though it’s been only a handful of spring exhibitions so far.

“All these things,” the former Giants manager said, “I missed.”

After three years away, Bochy, 67, by all accounts, is reenergized and ready to take the reins one more time. This time, with the Texas Rangers.

“He’s not wasting his time,” Rangers utilityman Brad Miller said. “That’s something that definitely stands out. I think he’s just excited to be back, honestly. I feel that.”

Standing at his locker in the Rangers clubhouse, Miller was merely echoing the sentiment of the room. The Rangers’ spring training camp is located some 40 miles west of the Giants’ Scottsdale facilities, which Bochy called home for the past 16 springs, as manager from 2007-19 and as an adviser the past three years after announcing his retirement.

On Friday, a split-squad group of Giants visited Bochy for his first exhibition game against his former club. His new club won, 11-7.

The Rangers wrote big checks in the 2021 offseason, signing free agents Corey Seager and Marcus Semien, but finished 68-94, a distant fourth place in the AL West. They fired first-year manager Chris Woodward and lured Bochy out of retirement, their first veteran manager since Buck Showalter in 2006.

“I just think he comes in with this aura of legitimacy,” Miller said. “Instant credibility and instant trust factor for us. You know you’re in good hands.”

For 25 straight years, from 1995 to 2019, Bochy was one of 30 people in the world who could call themselves a major league manager. He’s one of an even smaller number to work that long without ever being fired. He won three World Series, more games in San Francisco than any other Giants manager and built a surefire case for the Hall of Fame. But taking into consideration his health and the changing circumstances around him and the league, he decided it was time to take a step back following the 2019 season.

Three years later, the faces are new. Less than half of the Rangers’ 40-man roster was born when Bochy began managing the Padres in 1995. The game is different. Always known for his bullpen strategy, Bochy will have to navigate the three-batter minimum for the first time, as well as the quicker pace of play and restrictions on defensive shifts, which are new to everybody. There’s also more information than ever, and larger staffs to process it.

But when Bochy is back in the dugout, is it a little like riding a bicycle?

“A little different bike, though,” Bochy said. “It’s an adjustment on this bike. I wouldn’t say it’s an electric bike. You’ve got to do some pedaling here and learn a lot of new things in the game, including new players.

“But,” he continued, “once the game starts, things just start coming back.”

While Bochy had publicly expressed a desire to return to managing as soon as the 2020 playoffs, it was never a sure thing that he would return to the dugout. He was content being a husband and a grandfather while staying involved with the Giants.

“You don’t see that with a lot of managers,” said Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, who played the first nine seasons of his career and won two World Series titles with Bochy, “but you do with the great ones. He’s definitely one of those.”

But perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that Bochy was drawn back into the game, or that the game was drawn back to Bochy. Since he resigned, Dusty Baker (who at 73 is six years older than Bochy) was hired out of retirement and led the Astros to a World Series title; Showalter, 66, was hired by the Mets and took them to the postseason; and Bob Melvin, 61, steadied the ship in San Diego after another first-year manager was let go.

“The game always goes in waves,” Crawford said. “Obviously it was the old-school mentality for a while, then it was a little shift to analytics. I think there’s probably more of a balance now than we’ve had the last maybe five to 10 years.”

Whereas Bochy could once pencil in Crawford at shortstop every day, he now will do that with Seager. The two were once on opposite sides of the Giants-Dodgers rivalry.

“We’ve had a few conversations about that,” Seager said with a laugh. “It’s good to be on the same side, that’s for sure. We had a ton of battles together. He’s been a lot of fun to work with so far.”

Semien grew up in El Cerrito as a Giants fan. He observed Bochy’s teams for years, from his time at St. Mary’s High (when Bochy was hired), to Cal (where he watched Bochy win the 2010 World Series), but hadn’t met him until camp opened.

“It all makes sense now, now that I’ve met him and I’m playing for him, how smart he is, how calm he is and just what he brings to the table,” Semien said. “It was just eye-opening to hear what he believes we’re capable of, and we all agree.”

Semien heard from his parents and his grandfather when Bochy’s hire was announced.

“People who follow the Giants,” he said, “they’re really excited about it.”

That includes some current major leaguers.

Miller received texts from his former Phillies teammates Rhys Hoskins and Andrew Knapp, two Sacramento-area natives who grew up watching Bochy’s Giants.

“When they saw we got him, they were fired up,” Miller said. “Like, ‘Dude! You’re gonna play for Boch!’ That was cool to see them, just like, ‘Dude, you’ve got to tell us about Boch.’ Kind of like a childhood hero of theirs.”

Last September, Bochy returned to the dugout for the first time since he stepped away from the Giants’ managerial post. Florida-raised but French-born, Bochy signed up to manage Team France as it attempted to qualify for the World Baseball Classic. His presence couldn’t help the overmatched national team — it lost both qualifying games by a combined 21-5 — but did result in something important.

“In the dugout there,” Bochy said, “that’s when I knew I really missed it.”

Still, it took a visit to Bochy’s Tennessee home by Chris Young, his former pitcher and current general manager of the Rangers, to pull him back. He didn’t seek out opportunities.

“Because,” he said, “when I stepped back, I was good with it.” After a seven-hour meeting with Young, though, Bochy was convinced. He signed a three-year contract.

Crawford remembers speaking with Bochy on the phone shortly before he took the post in Texas.

“He was definitely feeling a lot better health-wise and you could see a little bit more energy than I had seen the last couple of years,” Crawford said. “It kind of seemed like he was eager to be doing something again.”

While Crawford, with his veteran status, didn’t make the hourlong trek for Friday’s split-squad game in Surprise, he is looking forward to seeing his old manager when Texas visits Oracle Park over the second weekend of August.

“He’s definitely at least part of a reason why I was able to stay in the big leagues, just the faith in me to at least go out there and play a good shortstop every night,” Crawford said. “Despite my offensive struggles early in my career, he kept putting my name in the lineup.”