Baseball was First Thing on Padres Coach's Mind after Colon Surgery

Talk about dedication !

The San Diego Padres organization was hit with some of the most unfortunate news earlier this week. Just before the season kicked off, third base coach Matt Williams was diagnosed with colon cancer.

The doctors were luckily able to catch it early enough to where they could still operate on him and remove the tumor but Williams wanted to ensure that he was at least present for the Padres' home opener. He knew that he would probably be gone for quite some time after that and the crowd made show him lots of love prior to the first pitch.

Nice applause for Matt Williams 💛🤎 pic.twitter.com/FtmvLeyyoT

— Talking Friars (@TalkingFriars) March 31, 2023

Williams had his surgery done yesterday and team manager Bob Melvin shared a hilarious story about the first thing on his mind when he regained consciousness after a successful operation.

“When he woke up, he wanted to know when BP was. … He said something about wanting to hit Croney and Kim some ground balls. That was foremost on his mind, which shouldn’t surprise you," said Melvin.

(Via The San Diego-Union Tribune)

It makes sense that this was one of the first things Williams had to say. He probably was very disappointed, just like many of us, after the Padres Opening Day loss.

Williams has been around the game of baseball fro quite some time now and he has seen some of the best talent to touch the field. Having managed the Washington National before, he's been in a position of power. Him and Melvin also already had relations prior to San Diego from when Williams coached under him for the Oakland Athletics.

He is a huge part to this current Friars squad and he will be missed but we are all wishing him the speediest of recoveries.