Kevin Seitzer Talks On Being Atlanta Braves New Hitting Coach

Monday morning, the Atlanta Braves announced that they have hired a new hitting coach in Kevin Seitzer.  As a hitting coach, he spent 2014 with the Toronto Blue Jays, from 2009 to 2012 with the Kansas City Royals and from 2006 to mid-season 2007 with the Arizona Diamonbacks.

The Braves also announced the hiring of Jose Castro as the assistant hitting coach.  Castro has spent 25-plus years as a hitting instructor in the minors and spent 2014 with the Chicago Cubs as a quality assurance coach.

Seitzer told media that he was unable to come to terms with the Toronto Blue Jays after getting his contract offer from the team last week.  He decided to pick up the phone and give the Braves a call.

The Braves were a team Seitzer grew up admiring and told reporters that ‘it’s kind of a dream come true to be in Atlanta’.

Fredi Gonzalez told Mark Bowman that he liked that Seitzer had some success with young hitters in Kansas City and success with proven veterans in Toronto.

Seitzer has a lot of work to do while he’s wearing a Braves uniform.  As we all know, the Braves underperformed last year at the plate and many blamed this on the coaching staff…mostly at the cost of the Braves former hitting coach Greg Walker.

Walker is now gone, Seitzer is now our hitting coach.

One of the largest tasks Seitzer will have is to turn B.J. Upton‘s career around – that is if he’s still wearing a Braves uniform – but supposedly he’s looking forward to the challenge…

Reports from Mark Bowman are out that state the Braves were interested in Dave Magadan and Bill Mueller before deciding on Seitzer.