A’s utilityman Chris Coghlan learned to adapt after dad’s death
Coghlan plunged into everything he did full bore.
There is nothing in this game that could make me feel worse.
[...] Coghlan’s wild swings in pro baseball don’t ruffle him a bit.
“I’m such a better player, such a better person, such a better teammate now than I ever would have been if I’d continued that rise I was on my rookie year,” Coghlan said.
Going down really made me figure out who I wanted to be as a player and as a teammate; I was very selfish when I first came up, because everyone praises you for these individual accomplishments, so you can’t help but want to chase those things.
Coghlan hasn’t returned to his 2009 level, but many people in the game didn’t realize he was trying to play through injuries, and twice he returned too quickly from knee surgeries.
If you can lace ’em up, you go play, even though the business side is that people judge you, Coghlan said.
Coghlan initially struggled when he lost his everyday job, but he wound up in Chicago in 2014, and played for Joe Maddon last season.
People are afraid to get embarrassed.
Joe was great, because he’d say, ‘I trust you, I need you to play this position, it’s best for the team.
Coghlan, 30, can play everywhere except shortstop and catcher, and he could play those spots in a pinch, too.
Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
