DECEMBER 6: The Atlanta organization has announced the hiring.
DECEMBER 4: The Braves appear to be closing in on an agreement that will make Rick Kranitz their new pitching coach, per David O’Brien of The Athletic (via Twitter). It’s not clear if and when an announcement will be made, but the report says it’s now “expected” that Kranitz will come aboard.
It came as a surprise when the veteran coach came free after just one season with the Phillies. The driving force was not any particular displeasure with his performance on the part of the Philadelphia organization. Rather, faced with interest from other organizations in assistant pitching coach Chris Young, the Phils decided to promote him to Kranitz’s position.
On the Braves’ side, the organization decided after the 2018 campaign to part ways with Chuck Hernandez. That left the team in need of a new leader in the pitching department, coinciding with Kranitz’s availability.
The Atlanta staff had some notable successes last year, but also some disappointments. Frankly, much the same could be said of the Phillies, so it’s tough assess this move from an outside perspective. Clearly, though, Kranitz enjoys plenty of respect within the industry. He previously served as pitching coach for the Marlins, Orioles, and Brewers.
Feels like a sideways move, but we’ll see.
I remember all those great Marlins, Orioles, and Brewer staffs…
Never gave him much to work with
It’s about maximizing the talent your dealt that’s the important part. Could very well have been doing everything right, just working with low ceiling players in those organizations
I heard the same optimism when Hernandez was hired. “This was the guy that turned Verlander into a Cy Young winner”…firedtwo Years later.
It’s not really optimism in my end. I don’t know anything about the guy. Just foolish to evaluate off who he’s been with
Leo Mazzone spent a couple seasons with the Orioles too ya know. He a bad pitching coach because he didn’t have a hall of fame rotation to work with there like he did here?
That’s all I’m saying
Fair enough.
This is a good point. Bobby and Leo are lauded, but had some of the best tools to work with and only won a single title. As a Braves fan, it’s an ugly stat.
PIT have never been known for having excellent rotations, but Ray Searage is one of the most respected pitching coaches in baseball for getting the most out of pitchers.
Sounds like we should’ve hired Searage
Are you lost?
Don’t know to much about him. I was pullin for Price.
Don’t know much about him. I don’t see him affecting the staff much for good or ill.
All I know is the Phillies rotation, particularly Nola made a big jump in 2018. Hopefully he can do the same for the Braves rotation. If he could get Newcomb alone to be more consistent it would be a win for the Braves!
Tony Robbins couldn’t teach Newcomb control. Don’t put that kind of pressure on him on Day 1. Introduce him to Glavine and Smoltz and walk him through where they house the Cy Young trophies and tell him everything’s going to be alright.
I am not trying to put any pressure on him lol….just saying if he can help the rotation as a whole it would be great! IF…a BIG IF he could help Newk be more consistent though man that would be HUGE!! Obvioulsy it is on Newk to adjust to become better or more “effectively wild.”
Dont put any pressure on someone one way, but put more pressure on them in other ways? By introducing to Hofs and comparisons with them?
Different motivations for different people I suppose.
Would be nice to get some stability in this position for the Braves. Not exactly great for the young pitchers. I feel like theres a lot more than on field performance that is being evaluated in pitching coaches these days
The article sites the desire to promote Chris Young from the farm, but I wonder if he was held accountable (a sacrificial lamb perhaps) for Gabe Kapler’s notorious bullpen usage and pulling his starters. As a Braves fan, I loved seeing Kapler on the top step in the 5th inning of a shutout by Nola, knowing how well ATL performs in the 7th inning on.
@RunDMC
Young was the analytics nerd of the two. When other teams, including the Braves, requested permission to interview Young, the Phillies opted to promote Young instead of allowing him to take a job with another team.
No, the Braves and other orgs reached out to Philly for permission to interview young. Philly is high on young so they fired Kranitz so they could promote and retain young. From what I’ve heard, some of the Phillies (Aaron Nola) are not entirely happy w the decision.
If he has a solution to the BB problem, I don’t care who the next pitching coach is
Just what I was thinking. Cut down on the walks.
Really, when it comes to positions like pitching coach I think it’s difficult for fans to have a good, casual opinions. We have to depend on what people in the industry say about the guy because they don’t get there own stat sheet for us to look at. If you look at their resume of pitching staffs you will hit all sorts of snags. It isn’t easy from our end trying to figure out what is the pitchers talent or the pitching coaches talent.
That being said, I was hoping the Braves would have landed Hickey. Not sure if he was available as he has had a long career already and had just left his position with the Cubs.
He has a solid pedigree if you search his background. Worked many years in Cubs system. Worked with the likes of KWood, Maddux, Zambrano, Willis, Greinke, and a year with Nola and Arrieta build a nice base of teaching knowledge. A good teacher, better person. Practicing my Tomahawk Chop!
The longer Kranitz stayed with the Brewers, the worse the pitching got. Granted they didn’t have a great staff, but all the pitchers improved and some Yovani Gallardo actually got worse.
I was hoping for “Braves Send Cash and PTBNL to Furman University for Mazzone”.
If only every pitching coach could have 3 future HoFers in their rotation.
Lol. Rocking chair motion. On point LEO and Bobby better than any mainstream couple I’ve seen since Golden Girls.
Is Leo at Furman? That’s awesome.
God, I hope Kranitz does a great job with ATL (he’s got the raw materials there, it appears), while Young just sucks it up, delaying Philly’s resurgence by years, & gets fired (but catches on elsewhere and has a great career – not his fault). Phillies would deserve it for pulling that crap.