The Braves named former All-Star corner infielder Kevin Seitzer as their new hitting coach Monday, hiring him away from Toronto after an impressive season in his only year coaching Blue Jays hitters.
After Seitzer, 52, and the Blue Jays couldn’t agree to terms this month on a new contract, the Braves moved quickly to hire the former two-time All-Star infielder after interviewing him and and at least a handful of other candidates. Longtime minor league hitting coach Jose Castro was named assistant hitting coach.
Seitzer coached a Toronto offense that ranked fourth in the American League in runs (723) and batting average (.259), second in OPS (.736) and home runs (177), and third in on-base percentage (.323) and slugging percentage (.414).
The Blue Jays were seventh or lower in each of those categories in 2013 except homers, where they ranked fourth.
Seitzer will be assisted by Castro, 56, a member of the Cubs’ major league coaching staff last season after 25 years as a minor league hitting coordinator or coach in four organizations including the Marlins, where he worked with current Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez. He was also Seattle’s interim major league hitting coach in 2008.
“This is Fredi’s staff and he was actively involved throughout the process,” John Hart, the Braves’ new president of baseball operations, said in a news release. “With today’s two additions, as well as Bo Porter as our new third-base coach, we feel that we have a put a great staff in place.”
As recently as two weeks ago it was reported Seitzer would likely return for a second season with Toronto. But the sides had not been able to come to terms on a new deal, and the Braves and Hart hired him away from the Blue Jays.
Seitzer, 52, will be the Braves’ fourth hitting coach in six seasons. Terry Pendleton was reassigned to first-base coach after the 2010 season, Larry Parrish was fired after one season in the role in 2011, and Greg Walker stepped down this month after three seasons in charge of Braves hitters along with assistant hitting coach Scott Fletcher, who was let go.
Seitzer spent four seasons as Royals hitting coach through 2012 and had mixed results with a young team that operated under serious payroll constraints. He got a lot of credit for helping Alex Gordon get his career turned around in 2011, and for helping shortstop Alcides Escobar have a career-best season in 2012.
An All-Star with the Royals as a rookie in 1987 and the Brewers in 1995, Seitzer hit .295 with a .375 OBP and 74 homers in a 12-year playing career that ended with the the AL champion Indians in 1997, when Hart was Cleveland’s general manager.
Braves president John Schuerholz was Kansas City’s GM when the Royals drafted Seitzer in 1983 and when he arrived in the majors in 1986.
Seitzer had more walks (669) than strikeouts (616) as a player, and his 85 strikeouts as a rookie marked the only time he whiffed as many as 80 times in a season.
He teaches hitters the importance of making contact, using the entire field, and putting the ball in play particularly in situations that call for at least productive outs — all areas in which the Braves struggled mightily in 2014.
The 2014 Braves finished 29th in the majors out of 30 teams in runs scored (573), 26th in batting average (.241), 24th in OBP (.305), 29th in slugging percentage (.360), tied for 27th in OPS (.365) and tied for 22nd in homers (123).
The Braves had the fourth-most strikeouts in the majors with 1,369, while the Blue Jays had the sixth-fewest (1,151). Cutting down on whiffs while improving their situational hitting also figure to be points of emphasis for the Braves.
Seitzer was fired by the Royals in October 2012 after four seasons with them. The Royals were 12th in the AL in runs that season, the third time in four seasons they finished 10th or lower in scoring, but they finished fourth or better in the league in batting average in each of Seitzer’s final three seasons there.
As a player, Seitzer was primarily a corner infielder despite only three double-digit homer seasons. That included a career-best 15 homers in his 1987 rookie season, when he hit .323 and led the AL in hits with 207.
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