Atlanta Braves Will Be Getting a New Pitching Coach

Change is afoot:  Roger McDowell, pitching coach of the Braves for 11 seasons, will not be with the team as they move into SunTrust Park – a move that could portend bigger changes soon.

It has been expected that the end of the 2016 season would mean the next phase of change would be ushered in for the Atlanta Braves, and today marks the first wave in what could be a tidal surge:

The Sacrificial Lamb?

The immediate next question is what this means for next week.  The Braves have been conducting managerial interviews, and despite strong showings from Terry Pendleton and Ron Washington, it is widely believed that the race for the top job is down to either Brian Snitker or Bud Black.

This move today to relieve Roger McDowell of his duties would seem to send a strong signal that Bud Black will be the next field general of the Atlanta Braves.

Black has been a pitching coach himself for a number of years, and not only has his own ideas for running a staff, but would be strongly motivated to bring in a coach with him who would implement his pitching philosophies.

For the record, San Diego had Darren Balsley as pitching coach under Black for his entire tenure there (2007-2015)… and he has continued in that role through today.

But for those thinking that an “outside hire” for manager might be disruptive to the Braves’ coaching staff, the removal of McDowell could be a lone move in the run-up to a hire of Black within the next couple of days.

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Need for a New Voice

McDowell, now 55, came to Atlanta in the wake of Leo Mazzone‘s departure.  Indeed, while pitching has been the theme by which the Braves have operated over their celebrated run of success, they have only had these two pitching coaches since 1990… a remarkable run of coaching stability.

McDowell, a neighbor of former manager Fredi Gonzalez, has a reputation of being both a prankster and a tough teacher.  There have been rumblings about concerns in the ranks of pitchers about this latter trait, but Mazzone certainly had a brusk approach about him as well.  McDowell’s staffs, however, haven’t enjoyed the same kind of successes that Mazzone’s did, but when you have Hall of Famers like Glavine, Smoltz, and Maddux in your midst, it is hard to make an apples-for-apples comparison.

The 2016 season, as happily as it finished for Braves’ fans, did have a dark lining to a silver cloud:  the starting pitching ranked 28th in baseball in ERA.  A large part of that could be attributed to the large volume of pitchers cycling through Atlanta in an effort to find something resembling stability. Nonetheless, over the past two seasons McDowell has been unable to find that magic button to put an end to the mound’s revolving door, as the Braves have set records for doing so.

Next: More on one of those up-and-coming Pitchers

As a new crop of premium pitchers is already in/near Atlanta with another on the way, it appears that the Braves are opting for a new voice in their quest for the next Promised Land… a quest likely to be led by Bud Black.