Catching Up with Angel Espada
By Chelsea Merritt
As the Bluefish enter their 19th season in Bridgeport, it is quite fair to say that The Ballpark at Harbor Yard has been home to many great baseball players. A few names in particular stand out, including Luis Lopez, Dontrelle Willis, and Adam Greenberg. To many long-time Bluefish fans, however, no name stands out more than that of nine-year veteran infielder Angel Espada.
Espada began his professional baseball career at the age of 18 when he was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the 42nd round of the 1994 MLB draft. He spent three seasons with the Braves organization before being traded to the New York Mets in 1997, where he played with Low-A Pittsfield of the New York-Penn League and Single-A Capital City of the South Atlantic League. In 1998, after beginning the year in Capital City, he was released by the Mets and joined the Newark Bears, then of the Atlantic League, during the league’s inaugural season. That same year he was traded to the Atlantic City Surf, also of the Atlantic League, where he went on to help lead the team to the league championship. For the 1999 campaign, Angel was a member of the Bridgeport Bluefish, where he would spend the next nine seasons before retiring in 2007.
Angel won back-to-back Atlantic League batting titles during his first two years in Bridgeport, and was also a member of the 1999 championship team. He holds multiple Bluefish franchise records, including career stolen bases (173), career runs scored (444), and batting average in a single season (.356, ’99). In 2013, Espada became the first Bluefish to have his number officially retired. In 734 games across nine seasons with the ‘Fish, Espada has a .309 career batting average with 13 home runs, 221 RBI, 444 runs scored, and 173 stolen bases.
Recently, Angel took some time to speak with the Bluefish staff.
First of all, we would like to thank you for taking the time to talk with us. You are still really active in the baseball world – can you tell us what you’ve been up to?
For the last eight years, I’ve been working for the Miami Marlins organization. The first four years I was a hitting coach at the lower levels and now I’ve been managing for the past four years in the New York-Penn League with the Batavia Muckdogs.
So how did you end up coaching with the Marlins?
Well, I ended up coaching because it was my passion and I also played with a couple guys that were working at the time with the Marlins, who helped me get into the organization. And that’s how everything started.
Are there any players that you’ve been working with who have made it to the Big Leagues, or that you think will have a big impact some day?
Actually, yes. One guy I’ve worked with is Marcell Ozuna, who a couple years ago had a great season for us. That’s one of the bigger guys that I’ve worked with. And, you know, some of the younger guys too, like Christian Yelich. He’s a big part of our future as well.
What do you like most about managing, now that your playing career is over?
My favorite part about managing at the level that I’m at is teaching the young guys how to play the game, how to be professionals on and off the field, and trying to guide them so they can become Big Leaguers or hopefully help our minor league ball club in games down the road.
This year will be Angel’s fourth as Manager of the Batavia Muckdogs, the Short-Season A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. Since being hired in 2013, he has collected over 100 victories and hopes to lead the team into the 2016 post-season.
Be sure to pick up a copy of our HOOKED! Game Program at the ballpark during the 2016 season to read an extended version of this interview with Bluefish legend Angel Espada!
