Nitkowski embracing opportunity to work from home

This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman's Braves Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

C.J. Nitkowski loved the years he spent in the Rangers’ television booth. His entire family developed a strong bond with his broadcast partner Dave Raymond, and he experienced the thrill of seeing the team win a World Series last year.

But it’s hard to beat the comforts of home.

So, when the Braves came calling this past fall, the suburban Atlanta resident jumped at the opportunity to become a fixture in the Braves’ television booth. He’ll be filling the analyst role that opened when Jeff Francoeur opted to spend more time with his family.

“This is going to be amazing,” Nitkowski said. “I was spending an average of 125 days a year on the road. That’s a year, every three years, that I was gone. So, it’s going to be great being here.”

Nitkowski’s 10-season big league career included a short stint with the Braves in 2004. Yet, when it came time to retire, the New York native decided to raise his family in Atlanta. He quickly rose through the media world and joined the Rangers’ TV booth in 2017. His hope of gaining the same role in Atlanta seemed to fade when Francoeur became the Braves’ primary TV analyst before the 2019 season.

It was easy to assume Francoeur would fill this role for decades. But without any prompting, Francoeur went to Nitkowski in 2022 and told him there was a chance he would be stepping away to spend more time with family. This was the first of many signs folks in Atlanta wanted Nitkowski in the role if it opened.

When last winter passed without any change, Nitkowski assumed Francoeur had changed his mind. But hope was rekindled in September, when John Smoltz called Nitkowski to tell him there would likely be an opening. Smoltz added that he would call Braves president and CEO Derek Schiller and tell him Nitkowski would be the perfect fit.

Braves radio broadcaster Ben Ingram and Francoeur both called with similar messages over the next couple of weeks.

“It was overwhelming,” Nitkowski said. “It’s like anything, you do your job and hope to do it well. To have some guys you respect and some big names in Braves broadcasting reach out and tell you, 'Something is going to happen and I think you need to be involved,' was special.”

Nitkowski’s anxiety grew when he didn’t hear anything over the next few weeks, but he later appreciated Schiller’s choice to halt his pursuit until the Rangers completed their bid for a World Series title.

Once Nitkowski accepted the offer, he and his wife, Megan, were thinking, “Is this really happening?”

“We knew it seemed so far-fetched,” Nitkowski said. “Everybody has been great. We have just been overwhelmed.”

Nitkowski played for eight clubs during his MLB career and then spent time playing in Japan and Korea. Stability is something his wife and three kids haven’t experienced much of during the baseball season.

This year will be different, as Nitkowski teams with Brandon Gaudin in the Braves’ broadcast booth. Home will be just a short drive away after home games. And Francoeur’s desire to still do about 30 games this year will allow Nitkowski more opportunities to spend time with his family. His 15-year-old son Luke is a promising baseball player for Creekside High School. His oldest son Matthew has graduated college, and his daughter Brooke is working toward her undergraduate degree.

“When I was gone doing Rangers games, I was gone,” Nitkowski said. “So the idea of playing tennis with my wife in the morning or spending more time with the kids, this is going to be amazing.”