University of Georgia Athletics
‘It’s Definitely Way Different’
March 02, 2023 | Baseball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Inseparable for pretty much their entire lives, Connor and Cole Tate's paths have finally diverged.
"It's definitely way different," Cole said recently in a phone interview from Fort Myers, Fla. "Our whole lives, we've always played together."
Connor returned to the Georgia baseball team this year for a sixth season — he redshirted as a freshman — thanks to the extra year granted by the the NCAA due to the pandemic, while Cole used up the last of his eligibility last season. In January, Cole signed with the Minnesota Twins organization and was assigned to the wonderfully named Fort Myers Mighty Mussels
Connor will be back at Foley Field on Friday night when Georgia hosts Georgia Tech at Foley Field. It's the first of three games against the Yellow Jackets this weekend. On Saturday, the Bulldogs will play at Tech, and the teams will meet at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville on Sunday.
Cole, meanwhile, has been down in Florida prepping for spring training the past couple of weeks. The twins were still living together until Cole headed south.
"We're pretty close. It's for sure different. He's always been my throwing partner, always throwing together," Connor said before the Bulldogs' season opener.
Connor also said that losing Cole as a teammate meant he lost part of his pregame routine, and "I'm definitely superstitious." Connor said that he does most of his pregame work on his own, but he and his brother did always throw together to get loose.
As for going their separate ways: "It was eventually going to happen, so you might as well do it now," Connor said with a laugh.
The identical twins started playing baseball together around the age of six, and until this spring they had always played on the same team — with one exception. One summer in college, Cole played in Alaska while Connor played in Maine.
"We had online classes together and stuff, so we still kept in contact that summer; we still talked all the time and asked how each other were doing. But it was very different, and a big change, that first time we weren't playing together," Cole said
One of the best things about having your twin as a teammate, Cole said, is that you have someone that knows your game inside and out — particularly your swing.
"You having someone that actually knows your swing so well, so when you need help and stuff, he's able to make an adjustment by looking at it," Cole said. "Another great thing is always having someone to compete with."
The Tate brothers, as you might expect, are very competitive with each other.
"It didn't matter if it was baseball, playing pool at home, or Ping Pong, Playstation, Xbox, backyard basketball — it could be anything," Cole said, adding that Connor probably won most of the one-on-one basketball battles while he usually had the upper hand in video games.
Cole played in 165 games over his Georgia career, with 113 starts, including 88 at shortstop, and he was a career .324 hitter. Last season, he was the Bulldogs' battling leader among everyday players, hitting .359 with an OPS of .962 in 42 starts, with six home runs and 30 runs batted in. Connor, who started all 59 games, hit .345, posted an team-high OPS of 1.050, was tied for the team lead with 13 homers, and he drove in a team-high 58 runs.
Connor seems to be doing just fine without his twin by his side this season. Heading into the Bulldogs' weekend series, Connor is hitting .452, has an OPS of 1.283, with two home runs and nine RBIs. And Cole is following every game as well as he can.
"I'm looking up on ESPN to see what the score is, and I'll text my parents to see what he's doing and how he's doing," Cole said.
The twins will be tracking each other from afar for now, but maybe they'll be teammates again one day. Maybe even on the Twins.
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
