5 current MLB stars who played for legendary Atlanta Braves manager

Freddie Freeman

For a while, it seemed like Freddie Freeman would be the last person who played for Bobby Cox to wear a Braves uniform.

When Freeman first came up, he was a high-ranking prospect but did not have the same expectations as his friend and teammate, Jason Heyward. However, as the seasons progressed, it was Freeman who became the face of the franchise, not Heyward.

The first baseman signed an eight-year extension in 2014, but months later, the Braves decided to rebuild. and the Braves also immediately ensured Freeman was the one player the team kept. Freeman suffered through three straight losing seasons but remained the one link from the old days when the club started making the playoffs again in 2018.

In 2020, Freeman won the MVP in the shortened season, and in 2021, the final year of his eight-year deal, he finally got his championship.

If you surveyed Braves fans after the 2010 season and told them that 14 years after Bobby Cox retired, the team would still have two players on the 2024 squad who played with the skipper, the first player fans would likely have guessed Jason Heyward first, and Freddie Freeman second.

If you had asked this question in 2015, 2016, 2017, even at the beginning of 2021, fans would have said, "100% Freddie Freeman is one of those players, no doubt."

Alas, Freeman is not one of the two. After winning the World Series, he went into free agency which ended with him firing his agent and in a rival team's uniform.

Fortunately, in addition to Charlie Morton, the two players have become incredibly valuable to the team and highly appreciated by fans and players alike. And who is the second player who played with Cox and is still with the Braves?

Jesse Chavez

Unlike Freddie Freeman, who most people would have probably guessed would still be with the Braves in 2024 had they been asked a decade ago most Braves fans likely forgot Jesse Chavez even existed in 2014.

Chavez first came to Atlanta in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2009-2010 offseason. The righty had just been traded to Tampa Bay from Pittsburgh a month earlier. He made the Braves Opening Day roster and pitched 28 games with a 5.89 ERA before being traded to the Royals along with Tim Collins and Gregor Blanco in exchange for Kyle Farnsworth and Rick Ankiel.

Chavez's trade from Atlanta was already the fourth time he had been traded. He'd be traded six more times in the next twelve years and become the most traded player in MLB history.

Chavez played for the Royals, the Blue Jays, the Athletics, the Blue Jays again, the Dodgers, the Angels, the Rangers, the Cubs, and the Rangers again in between his Braves stint and he was with the Angels in 2021 Spring Training before he was released.

Chavez found his way back on the Braves in 2021 and helped them to their first World Series championship since 1995. Although he's pitched with Atlanta every season since 2021, he's had four different stints, which included two trades in 2022.

And yet, he's still with the Braves, and making him one of two current Atlanta Braves to have played for Bobby Cox. Everyone in Braves Country loves Jesse Chavez and it feels good to see him with the team for one last ride.

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