Jonathan Schuerholz: 'I want to be the next Bobby Cox'

Jonathan Schuerholz is the manager of the Braves' Single-A affiliate in Rome.

Credit: Rome Braves

Credit: Rome Braves

Jonathan Schuerholz is the manager of the Braves' Single-A affiliate in Rome.

Schuerholz.

You know the name.

John Schuerholz, the architect of the Atlanta Braves’ best years in the 1990s and early 2000s, and the team president now.

Jonathan Schuerholz.

Get to know the name.

The son of the Braves' team president, who despite having an inside track to an air-conditioned front office job and a comfortable box high above home plate, opted to don the uniform instead.

» The Schuerholz name on a Braves jersey is a blessing, despite the catcalls. Read his reaction in the full story on MyAJC.com this weekend

Schuerholz  was drafted by the only team he's known since his family moved from Kansas City to Atlanta, when he was 10, in the eighth round of baseball's amateur draft in 2002. After six seasons as  a career .224-hitting infielder, Schuerholz had his fill of playing in the minors and went back to college to finish his business degree.

He returned to the Braves organization, this time as as a roving minor league instructor. In 2011 he managed the Gulf Coast League Braves, and he was the Danville Braves manager in 2012-13. Those both play abbreviated seasons. He then stepped up to manage at Rome, it was Schuerholz’s first managerial experience with something approaching a full-tilt grind (140 games).

So every day Schuerholz finds himself on the field, getting sweaty and dirty, tending one of the game’s remote gardens. Pitching batting practice. Taking throws at first. Leading base-running drills. Working with pitchers on their pick-off move. All the little puzzle pieces that ultimately are supposed to comprise a complete player.

“I don’t want to be the next John Schuerholz. I want to be the next Bobby Cox,’ ” the younger Schuerholz, and manager of the Single-A Rome Braves explains.

» How does the elder Schuerholz feel about that statement? Read the full story on MyAJC.com this weekend