The door has been opened for a bigger change to the Atlanta Braves coaching staff ahead of next season. According to The Athletic’s Brittany Ghiroli, coaches on Brian Snitker’s staff have been permitted to interview for other jobs.
Bench coach Walt Weiss is still expected to be a candidate for the manager position, but the door is now open for him to go elsewhere if he doesn’t get the position. While no other coach was specifically named, it’s implied that there is a risk of losing key coaches on the staff, such as pitching coach Rick Kranitz. Hitting coach Tim Hyers, who was hired ahead of last season, could potentially leave, too.
While coaches currently on the staff have been permitted to interview, the team reportedly hasn’t asked to interview anyone. A key takeaway from this is that no potential managers who are currently with an organization, including Skip Schumaker, have been talked to.
The Rangers promoted Schumaker as an in-house hire last week.
Krantiz and Weiss have been with the Braves since the early seasons of Snitker’s tenure as manager. Weiss joined the staff in 2018, and Kranitz in 2019. Both won a World Series with the Braves in 2021.
Under Kranitz as the pitching coach, the Braves had the best ERA in MLB in 2024 and were top-10 in 2021. The staff took a significant step back in 2025, but in Krantiz’s defense, they were dealt some key injuries and had a carousel of pitchers to work with. He also has a notable revival he can get credit for, the comeback of Chris Sale.
An unstable situation doens’t always provide the best results. If he is available to interview, there will certainly be teams that call to check in on him.
Hyers might not be missed by many fans, but it would be interesting to see how he does in year two. There were some late-season turnarounds, and maybe we’ll see more consistency next year.
Some change always comes with a new manager, but continuity, at least, to start the new era would likely be nice for some of the longtime players on the staff. They might now have Snitker, but they’d at least have a Weiss or a Kranitz to lean on.
Snitker retired from his position as manager after 10 seasons earlier this month. The World Series-winning manager will head into a senior adviser role.
