KANSAS CITY – Giants manager Bruce Bochy underwent heart surgery Tuesday morning after experiencing an atrial flutter, or abnormal heart rhythm, and will recover at his home in San Diego, according to the team.
The minor ablation procedure, in which surgeons scar small areas of heart tissue to prevent abnormal electrical signals from moving through the organ, was deemed a success, the team said.
Giants bench coach Ron Wotus will manage the club in the two-game series at Kansas City that begins Tuesday night. Bochy is scheduled to rejoin the Giants on Friday in Denver when the club begins a three-game series at Coors Field.
Bochy was in good spirits when he responded to a text message Tuesday night, calling the procedure “a piece of cake,” if also “a little overdue.” He was watching the game and joked that it wasn’t helping his recovery to have to listen to Jeremy Affeldt’s debut in the broadcast booth.
“Talking about torture…” he wrote.
Wotus said he and Bochy last spoke on Sunday, with the bench coach saying, “he was going in to get checked out, and we discussed that this (surgery) was a possibility.”
“We want him to take care of himself, take his time and make sure he’s cleared to manage,” Giants catcher Buster Posey said. “What we do is secondary to other things in life.”
This marks the third consecutive season in which Bochy, who turned 62 on Sunday, had to leave the team because of a heart issue.
Bochy also missed a game at Miami in August last season when he was hospitalized overnight because of an irregular heartbeat. He also had unscheduled surgery in February of 2015 when he felt discomfort while taking a stress test as part of a routine physical; doctors inserted two stents to treat a pair of 90 percent blockages in the vessels near his heart.
“He’s had a little bit of a tough time the last few years with his health,” left-hander Madison Bumgarner said. “We’re all thinking about him and wishing him well. It seems like he’s doing pretty good from what we’ve heard. Hopefully it’s all taken care of and he gets back to normal, everyday life here pretty quick.”
Last year in Miami, Bochy said the irregular heartbeat episode was something he has experienced in the past.
“There’s no guarantee, but they don’t see anything happening,” Bochy said at the time. “I don’t anticipate having another episode of this.”
“I had an irregular heartbeat going and they wanted to adjust some meds, and with that, they wanted to hold me overnight for observation. … It’s not uncommon. Some people have it. You just have to be aware.”
It is no small matter to be a major league manager with a heart condition – especially when you have a family history of cardiac issues. Bochy’s father, Gus, was 65 years old when struck by a fatal heart attack in 1990.
As a result, Bochy has scheduled regular heart checkups with a cardiologist in San Diego since his 40s.
Bochy is in his 11th season as the Giants’ manager and 23rd overall, counting his dozen years running the San Diego Padres. He has a 1794-1766 career managerial record, along with three World Series titles and four NL pennants.
Bochy, who is under contract through 2019 and is one of the game’s most highly paid managers, said last September that he didn’t anticipate having to step down early because of any health concerns.
“No,” he said. “There’s no question in my mind. It’s what I love to do. I don’t know what else I would do if I didn’t do this. I mean, I could have stepped down and counted my blessings like (former third base coach Tim Flannery) did, but I’m still hungry. I want to get back there. I want to win again. And if that goes away, then so will I.”
