NEW YORK — Former New York Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen is switching back to representing players after 2 1/2 years working for a club.

Van Wagenen joined Roc Nation Sports on Wednesday as chief operating officer and head of strategy and business development. He will report to the company’s founder, Shawn Carter – the rapper, producer and executive better known as Jay-Z.

“Since we first worked with Brodie, we realized the shared commitment to athletes, both on and off the field,” Carter said in a statement.

Van Wagenen was an agent for IMG and then co-head of CAA Baseball. The Mets hired him as general manager in October 2018 after Sandy Alderson stepped down following a recurrence of cancer.

Van Wagenen was fired on Nov. 6, the day Steven Cohen bought the team from the Wilpon and Katz families, and Alderson returned to the Mets as team president.

Van Wagenen was replaced as general manager by Jared Porter, who was hired Dec. 13 and then fired Jan. 19 after ESPN reported Porter sent sexually explicit, uninvited text messages and images to a female reporter in 2016 while he was working for the Chicago Cubs.

While Van Wagenen was at CAA, Roc Nation and CAA partnered to represent some players, including Robinson Cano and Yoenis Cespedes.

HANK AARON made one last trip to the spot where he hit No. 715.

After a nearly three-hour funeral service that featured two former presidents, a longtime baseball commissioner and a civil rights icon, the hearse carrying Aaron’s body detoured off the road bearing his name to swing through the former site of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

That’s where Aaron broke an iconic record on April 8, 1974, eclipsing the home run mark established by Babe Ruth.

The stadium was imploded in 1997 after the Braves moved across the street to Turner Field, replaced by a parking lot for the new ballpark. But the outer retaining wall of the old stadium remains, along with a modest display in the midst of the nondescript lot that marks the exact location where the record-breaking homer cleared the left-field fence.

A steady stream of baseball fans have been stopping by the site – comprised of a small section of fence, a wall and a baseball-shaped sign that says “Hank Aaron Home Run 715” – since “Hammerin’ Hank” died Friday at the age of 86. The fence is covered with flowers, notes and baseball memorabilia.

Fittingly, Aaron’s funeral procession went by the display on the way to his burial at South-View Cemetery, the oldest Black burial ground in Atlanta and resting place for prominent civil rights leaders such as John Lewis and Julian Bond.

The police-escorted line of cars passed near the gold-domed Georgia state capitol, went under the tower that displayed the Olympic torch during the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games, and headed down Hank Aaron Drive.

At the bottom of a hill, the procession took a sharp right turn toward the site of the former stadium. Aaron’s flower-covered hearse and all the vehicles that followed did a loop through the circular parking lot, which covers the footprint of the cookie-cutter stadium that became home of the Braves after they moved from Milwaukee in 1966.

It was a touching tribute that capped off several days of remembrances for one of baseball’s great players. The Braves held a memorial ceremony Tuesday at their current home, suburban Truist Park.

The funeral service touched as much on Aaron’s life beyond the field as it did his unparalleled baseball accomplishments, honoring his business acumen, charitable donations, and steadfast determination to provide educational opportunities for the underprivileged.

“His whole life was a home run,”‘ former President Bill Clinton said. “Now he has rounded the bases.”

Clinton said the two became close friends after Aaron endorsed him during the 1992 presidential campaign, when he pulled out a narrow victory in Georgia. Clinton had been the last Democrat to win the state until Joe Biden edged Donald Trump in November.

“For the rest of his life, he never let me forget who was responsible for winning,” Clinton quipped, drawing a few chuckles during the mostly somber ceremony. “Hank Aaron never bragged about anything – except carrying Georgia for me in 1992.”

Bud Selig, who was commissioner of Major League Baseball for more than two decades and another close friend of Aaron’s, said one of his fondest memories was being at Milwaukee’s County Stadium as a fan for the pennant-clinching homer that sent the Braves to the 1957 World Series.

“The only ticket I could get was an obstructed-view seat in the bleachers behind a big, metal post,” the 86-year-old Selig said. “The image of the great Aaron, deliriously happy, being hoisted on the shoulders of his teammates and carried off the field is indelibly imprinted in my memory.”

Andrew Young, a top lieutenant of Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil right movement and a former Atlanta mayor, said Aaron helped transform his adopted hometown into one of America’s most influential cities.

The Braves moved to the Deep South during an era of intense racial strife, Young pointed out, but having one of the game’s greatest Black players helped ease some of the tensions.

Atlanta continued its explosive growth, eventually landing such major sporting events as the Olympics, multiple Super Bowls and World Series, as well as numerous college sports championships.

“Just his presence, before he hit a hit, changed this city,” Young said. “We’ve never been the same.”

Only about 50 people attended the funeral service because of COVID-19 restrictions. Others sent videotaped messages, including another former president, Jimmy Carter.

Remembering his tenure as governor of Georgia, the 96-year-old Carter joked that after the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce gave Aaron a new Cadillac, he followed up with “a $10 tag” to go on the vehicle. It said “HLA 715,” a nod to the initials for Henry Louis Aaron.

The two became close friends and even took vacation trips to Colorado with their wives. In one pursuit, at least, Carter was the better athlete.

“Hank and I both learned how to ski together,” Carter said. “He skied fairly well. I was a little bit better than that on skis.”

A longtime Braves fan, Carter noted that he was at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium the night Aaron hit his iconic home run.

YANKEES: The Yankees quickly found a replacement for their bullpen, agreeing to a $2.5 million, one-year contract with submarining right-hander Darren O’Day, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.

O’Day takes the spot vacated when the Yankees traded right-hander Adam Ottavino to Boston on Monday, a move that cut $7.15 million from New York’s payroll. O’Day figures to join left-hander Zack Britton and right-hander Chad Green as the primary setup men for closer Aroldis Chapman.

O’Day, 38, was 4-0 with a 1.10 ERA in 16 1/3 innings over 19 games last year with Atlanta, striking out 22 and walking five while allowing eight hits. While his fastball averaged just 86 mph, his low arm angle creates deception; right-hander hitters batted .143 (7 for 49) off him with one home run, by Boston’s Xander Bogaerts, the leadoff batter of O’Day’s final appearance of the season. Left-handed hitters were 1 for 10.

He became a free agent when Atlanta declined a $3.25 million option, triggering a $250,000 buyout.

• The Yankees completed one of their primary offseason objectives, finalizing a $90 million, six-year contract to retain AL batting champion DJ LeMahieu.

LeMahieu, who turns 33 in July, became the first player to win undisputed batting titles in both leagues. The infielder won his first AL batting title last year at .364, the highest average for an AL batting champion since Minnesota’s Joe Mauer hit .365 in 2009, after winning the NL championship with Colorado in 2016.

A three-time All-Star, LeMahieu signed a $24 million, two-year contract with the Yankees in January 2019. He had 10 homers and 27 RBI in the shortened 2020 season after hitting .327 with 26 homers and 102 RBI in his first season in New York.

NATIONALS: Left-handed starter Jon Lester and the Washington Nationals finalized a $5 million, one-year contract, giving the team a fourth member of a rotation led by Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin.

METS: The Mets have traded Steven Matz to the Blue Jays for prospects, sources confirmed to the Daily News. MLB.com reported the Mets will receive right-handers Sean Reid-Foley, Yennsy Diaz and Josh Winckowski in the deal.

Matz, 29, was picked by the Mets in the second round of the 2009 draft. The organization had high hopes after his strong entrance in the big leagues. Matz debuted for the Mets in 2015, a season that culminated in a National League division title and a historic run to the World Series.

In his first couple of years, Matz went 13-8 and had a 3.16 ERA over 28 starts and 168 innings. But he sealed his future, and eventual trade, after a disastrous 2020 season. Matz appeared in just six starts in the 60-game season, posting a career-worst 9.68 ERA and 1.696 WHIP with a demotion to the bullpen.

• Zack Scott was promoted to acting general manager eight days after GM Jared Porter was fired.

Scott was hired as assistant GM on Dec. 23 after 17 seasons with the Boston Red Sox, the last two as assistant GM.

Scott, 43, oversaw Boston’s analytics along with advance scouting and professional scouting. He joined the team as an intern, became an assistant in 2005, then spent six seasons as assistant director of baseball operations.

A graduate of Vermont with a mathematics degrees, he worked for Diamond Mind Inc. from 2000-03 as a developer of baseball simulation software.

• The Mets added a left-hander to their bullpen, agreeing to a one-year contract with Aaron Loup, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.

Loup, 33, was 3-2 with a 2.52 ERA in 25 innings over 24 games for AL champion Tampa Bay last season, allowing 17 hits, striking out 22 and walking four. Once considered a lefty specialist, he held right-handed batters to a .192 average with three home runs in 58 plate appearances and left-handed batters to a .212 average with no home runs in 38 plate appearances.

BRAVES: The Braves added depth by agreeing to a minor league contract with utility player Ehire Adrianza.

The 31-year-old Adrianza would receive a $1.5 million, one-year contract if added to the 40-man roster.

Adrianza has played eight seasons with the San Francisco Giants and Minnesota Twins. He hit .191 in 44 games with the Twins in 2020 after batting .272 with Minnesota in 2019. He has a .244 career batting average with 16 homers.

Adrianza has played more games at shortstop and third base than any other position but also has seen time at second base, first base and in the outfield.

The agreement with Adrianza followed third baseman Pablo Sandoval’s minor league deal with the Braves this week. Sandoval would receive a $1 million, one-year contract if he is added to the 40-man roster.

PADRES: Jurickson Profar, who played five positions for San Diego last season, signed a $21 million, three-year contract to remain with the Padres.

Profar had been a free agent. He chose to return to San Diego, which improved significantly this offseason with the additions of starting pitchers Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove, and South Korea slugger Kim Ha-seong.

The versatile Profar likely will be coming off the bench. He started last season as the second baseman but was supplanted by rookie Jake Cronenworth and moved to left field, where he filled in for injured Tommy Pham. He also played two games in right field and one each in center and at first base. Kim is expected to compete with Cronenworth at second base.

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