Braves' most painful offseason departure becomes official after uncovered job posting

Time to start stretching. If you’ve been dreaming of beating “The Freeze” in Atlanta, you can now dream bigger and become the beloved mascot. The Braves have opened applications for the role of “The Freeze,” who races fans along the Truist Park outfield wall between innings of Braves games.

Shortly after the “Beat the Freeze” promotion debuted in 2017, the original Freeze, Nigel Talton, became a viral sensation for beating a fan who celebrated his supposed win too early. The Freeze regularly demolished his opponents and rarely lost. He ran at All-Star Games and across the pond. Before stepping away from the role prior to the 2022 season, Talton shared his duties with sprinter Durran Dunn. The pair’s athletic background should dissuade most readers from putting in an application for this particular gig.

The Braves are looking for a new Freeze, but the job isn’t for the faint of heart.

Talton was a collegiate athlete at Kennesaw State and an Olympic hopeful, who fell .3 of a second shy of qualifying for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials in the 100 meter. Dunn has a Clark Kent-esque double identity as an accountant by day and the Freeze at night. More importantly, though, Dunn ran track at Southern Mississippi University. The pair can each run 200 meters, roughly the distance of the Freeze race, in less than 24 seconds.

That’s really really fast. So if you’re thinking about auditioning for the role of the Freeze, it’s time for you to start training now. Or really, if you aren’t already an elite sprinter, it’s probably too late for you. Maybe some former Braves, like Billy Hamilton, will be able to take up such as daunting challenge.

But as history has shown us, the Freeze isn’t invulnerable. The regular Joes (and Janes) have taken the speedster down. So far be it from me to tell you not to try your best and take aim at your dreams. If you can weather the demands of the job, which include being an entertainer on top of being fast, check out the “Mascot Sprinter” job posting and get ready to run your best race at the in-person auditions on December 13.