The Braves have sacked three coaches who had been under contract until 2025, according to David O’Brien of The Athletic (X links here).
The three coaches are hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, assistant hitting coach Bobby Magallanes, and catcher Sal Fasano. Atlanta will fill the two hitting coach jobs but will not replace Fasano, who was in a role designed expressly for him. General manager Alex Anthopoulos earlier stated that he expected the entire coaching staff to return, but O’Brien claims that the club had not yet initiated the evaluation process at the time.
Atlanta undoubtedly had a disappointing year, including on offense. The club came into the season with championship aspirations but just barely snuck into the playoffs and then were quickly eliminated. The club’s hitters posted a collective line of .243/.309/.415, leading to a league-average wRC+ of 100. That was a big drop from last year when Atlanta collectively hit .276/.344/.501 for a league-leading 125 wRC+.
The amount of credit or blame the hitting coach owes for such a swing is debatable. Seitzer has been the club’s hitting coach since October 2014 and has supervised a number of successful teams, with Atlanta making the playoffs in each of the last seven years and winning the 2021 World Series. Injuries, including those of Ronald Acuña Jr., Austin Riley, Michael Harris II, Ozzie Albies, and Sean Murphy, contributed to the 2024 club’s failure to achieve expectations. Regardless, the club has determined that a change is required, and they will search for a new hitting coach for the first time in a decade.
Seitzer played in the major leagues from 1986 to 1997, with Kansas City, Milwaukee, Oakland, and Cleveland. He was hired as the Diamondbacks’ hitting coach prior to the 2007 season, and he later worked for the Royals and Blue Jays before joining Atlanta. Magallanes was a minor leaguer in the 1990s but never advanced to the majors. He became a minor league coach early this century and was promoted to the majors with Atlanta for the 2021 season.
Fasano appeared in the major leagues for nine different teams between 1996 and 2008. He promptly began coaching in the minors and was hired by the Blue Jays in late 2009, around the same time Anthopoulos became the club’s general manager. Anthopoulos took over as general manager of Atlanta in late 2017, while Fasano was appointed as a catching teacher the same month.
