Braves hitting coach Greg Walker handed in his resignation Tuesday, two days after the conclusion of a disappointing season in which Atlanta scored the second-fewest runs in the majors.
Walker spent three seasons as Braves hitting coach after 8 ½ seasons in that same position with the Chicago White Sox. He said in a news release that he had told manager Fredi Gonzalez during the final weekend of the season that he wanted to step down after the season.
“I grew up in South Georgia and have been a Braves fan my whole life,” Walker said. “It has truly been an honor to work the past three seasons with this great organization.”
On Monday, Walker told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “As far as being worried about my job and worried about my future, that’s so far down my list right now. I know most big-league coaches, at the end of the year you’re worried about the uncertainty of it. I’ve got a peace with it, because I’ve gotten to do so many things that I, being a baseball player from South Georgia back in the ‘70s, coming out of there, now I look up and I’ve been in the league for 20 years. It’s just … anything else I get in this league will be icing on the cake.”
The fate of assistant hitting coach Scott Fletcher and the rest of the coaching staff could be determined as soon as Wednesday. The Braves are likely to wait until a permanent GM is in place later this month before announcing whether Gonzalez will be retained as manager, but there are indications that he will be back.
A native of Douglas, Ga., Walker played nine seasons in the majors as a first baseman and designated hitter, most of it with the White Sox.
“Greg is a man of great character, integrity and work ethic and is a true ‘baseball man,’” Braves interim general manager John Hart said in a news release. “We thank him for his passion and dedication, and wish him well.”
The Braves this season ranked 29th in the majors in runs (573) and tied for 27th in on-base-plus-slugging percentage (.665). They were 24th in OBP (.305), 26th in batting average (.241) and tied for 22nd in home runs (123), just one year after hitting a National League-leading 181 homers in 2013 with mostly the same players.
Walker and Fletcher were hired to replace Larry Parrish, fired after one season (2011) as hitting coach. Parrish replaced Terry Pendleton after former general manager Frank Wren reassigned Pendleton to first-base coaching duties following the 2010 season.
In Pendleton’s final season as hitting coach in 2010, the Braves led the league in OBP (.339) and were fifth in runs (738). The plummeted to 14th in the then-16 team National League in OBP and 10th in runs (641) in 2011.
In the first season with Walker and Fletcher coaching Braves hitters in 2012, they finished seventh in the NL in OBP, and were fourth in the league in both OBP and runs in 2013 with their homer-fueled offense.
“I have no idea what my future holds,” Walker said Monday. “I’ve always been really good at moving on to other challenges if I have to. I love the Braves organization. I think there’s some really special people here. I think the group that they’ve got making those decisions now, whatever they decide will be the right decision.
“You know, this job takes a lot of energy, it takes a lot of passion. I’ve always been good at looking in the mirror at my performance and what I was able to help other people do. So I’ll go home and do that, and I’ll go fishing and get in the woods a little bit, and see what happens.”
