Atlanta Braves need a proven successful pitching coach
By Fred Owens
Even the most casual fan knew the Atlanta Braves would dismiss pitching coach Chuck Hernandez. Predicting his successor is nowhere near as simple
Atlanta Braves starting pitching finished 28th in baseball with 3.62 BB/9 rate while the bullpen managed a 26th place finish with 4.41. Overall the Braves earned 29th place in baseball, just behind Miami and ahead of the White Sox.
I tend to remove intentional walks from the calculation as those really belong to the manager. While that made the numbers look a little better – 3.54 for starters. and 3.85 for the relief corps – it didn’t change the ranks.
Chuck Hernandez carries the blame because it’s his job to correct these things. It’s true he had a young staff and young pitchers tend to be wild, but he coached many of them in the minors and bears some responsibility for them arriving with a bucket of walks.
The other day Ben wrote that Dan Myer or Dennis Lewallyn should get the job because, particularly in the case of Myer, they’ve done sterling work with the young pitchers they’ve led. I can’t dismiss that logic outright, we’ve seen minor league pitching coaches arrive and have success.
On the other hand, if the team wants to make a serious challenge next season it might be wise to choose a former Major League pitching coach who had success doing the thing the Braves need to do.
What needs to be done?
Assuming all possible candidate are technically qualified, I hope the Braves prioritize a few things when they choose the new coach.
1. The right kind of experience. The Braves have a plethora of young power arms making their way through the system now and the person who gets this job should be able to help them control the beast.
2. Open minded and adaptable. The new pitching coach must be conversant with the newest metrics and be able to help pitchers – and our manager – use them correctly. We aren’t yet in the group who make moves strictly by percentage points, nor should we be.
"..“You can never make the same mistake twice because the second time you make it, it’s not a mistake, it’s a choice.” ― Steven Denn"
Metrics are a tool, not a solution.
3. The coach should be an excellent communicator, able to listen to what the pitcher is saying and develop a solution without reaching into a recipe book of standard answers to every problem.
4. This is more a “like to have” than a “must have” qualification, but the coach should be fluent in at least two languages – Spanish and English.
I recall Martin Prado talking about why he worked so hard to become fluent in English; four years of English in a Venezuelan high school and continued study once he came to the USA. Steve Hummer touched on his belief briefly back in 2009.
"(Prado) didn’t want to be one of those players confined to a Spanish-speaking clubhouse clique . . . Prado seized on learning the language as being almost as important as building upon his resume as a player. “Communicating with the team and the people you work with is so important.”"
Coaches and players should make this a priority; sadly, most don’t. I digress.
5. Finally, it helps if you’ve been there and done it in the postseason. Most pitching coaches weren’t stars and some who didn’t have a major league career have had success. However, it doesn’t hurt to have been with a team that won or made the postseason
In that vein, I submit two names for your consideration: John Farrell and Dave Righetti.