The Atlanta Braves may have promoted from within when it comes to new manager Walt Weiss but they’re letting the new skipper make his own decisions when it comes to filling out the coaching staff. Longtime
Braves pitching coach Rick Kranitz is officially on the outs and he has been replaced by former Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner. Additionally, the Braves will also have a new first base coach (who is also coming from the Mets’ 2025 coaching staff), as former Braves player Antoan Richardson will be putting on a Braves uniform once again as the newest member of the coaching staff.
Taking a quick look at FanGraphs Team ERA- and FIP- rankings, two of the six seasons (five full seasons) he spent as Mets pitching coach saw New York finish with a Team ERA- and FIP- below the “average” number of 100. Those seasons were 2022 (Team ERA- of 92 and Team FIP- of 89) when the Braves and Mets engaged in a Divisional race for the ages and in this past 2025 season, which is when the Mets finished with middle-of-the-road numbers in that department with a 99 ERA- and a 95 FIP-. That seems to indicate that he’s definitely got the potential to preside over a strong-to-elite pitching staff — in addition to the fact that both Hefner and Richardson are both well-respected in baseball circles for their coaching acumen.
The Richardson hire in particular is fascinating because the Mets definitely indicated that they wanted to have him back and he wasn’t fired in the midst of New York’s own coaching staff shuffle. Instead, Richardson chose to take a chance on getting a job elsewhere and it turns out that Atlanta is the place for him. Additionally, Fredi Gonzalez’s time in Atlanta appears to be over (knowing this organization, it’s over for the time being) as it’s being reported by MLB.com’s Mark Bowman that Fredi will not be returning to the coaching staff for the 2026 season.
Meanwhile, while it wasn’t mentioned in the Press Release, the Braves are indeed moving on from Rick Kranitz as their pitching coach. Kranitz had been Atlanta’s pitching coach since 2019 and was part of the coaching staff that helped lead the Braves to a World Series title in 2021. If we’re going by Team ERA- and Team FIP-, 2024 was Kranitz’s magnum opus as Atlanta’s pitching staff led baseball in ERA- (84) and FIP- (87) for that season. Things fell off precipitously for the Braves pitching staff in 2025 for multiple reasons but I’d also imagine that this is simply Walt Weiss wanting to take the coaching staff in a new direction now that he’s at the helm as the manager, instead of this simply being Kranitz getting fired for (lack of) results.
The Braves did mention at the end of this press release that they’ll have the rest of the coaching staff filled out soon, so we’ll keep an eye out for that and relay the news for you once it drops. For now, what do y’all think about the new coaching hires? So far, so good?
