cited his strained relationship with Bridich<\/a> as a factor. And yet, Weiss\u2019 time with the Rockies wasn\u2019t all for naught.<\/p>\n\u201cI think he\u2019s the manager he is today because of the experiences he went through there, albeit not great experiences,\u201d said O\u2019Dowd, who is now an analyst at MLB Network. \u201cThat was a perfect indoctrination for him on the demands, the uncertainty, the unpredictability, how to manage up, how to manage down, how to be pulled in a million different directions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weiss was only 52 when he left the Rockies. He remained out of the game for only one year. Prior to the 2018 season, the Braves hired him to replace Terry Pendleton as bench coach. The way Weiss saw it, his job was to promote Snitker\u2019s vision. And he was content in that role.<\/p>\n
He turned down managerial interviews. He did not politick for a second chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always say, if Snit would have managed for 10 more years and he would have had me for 10 more years as his bench coach, I would have done it for another 10 years,\u201d Weiss said.<\/p>\n
Snitker, who ended his managerial tenure to become an advisor at the end of last season, said he was grateful Weiss showed no ego. He dreaded the thought of Weiss departing for a managing job with, say, a rebuilding club.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery year when his name would come up in managerial vacancies, I\u2019d break out in hives,\u201d Snitker said. \u201cMy first call would be to Walt: \u2018This isn\u2019t true, is it?\u2019 I would just freak out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Weiss wasn\u2019t necessarily the obvious choice to be the Braves\u2019 next manager. Anthopoulos might have preferred an attractive candidate from outside the organization. He inherited Snitker upon taking over the Braves in Nov. 2017. He had yet to hire his own man.<\/p>\n
Six current managers went from the No. 2 position to the No. 1 with the same club, including the Milwaukee Brewers\u2019 Pat Murphy, the back-to-back National League Manager of the Year. But some heads of baseball operations are reluctant to promote bench coaches, O\u2019Dowd said, viewing them as extensions of the previous manager, not a fresh start.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes a really good leader to look past that,\u201d O\u2019Dowd said.<\/p>\n
Anthopoulos had experience hiring a hot name \u2014 he did it with John Farrell in Toronto and it didn\u2019t work out, though Farrell later won a World Series with the Boston Red Sox. Weiss, perhaps, was not the sexiest choice. But Anthopoulos saw him as similar to the most successful managers in Braves history, Snitker and Bobby Cox.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey share the same values and love for the organization,\u201d Anthopoulos said.<\/p>\n
Weiss\u2019 greatest success as a player was under Tony La Russa in Oakland, where he was the 1988 American League Rookie of the Year. But he spent his final three seasons playing for Cox and another eight coaching under Snitker. His ties to the Braves, he said, got his \u201cjuices flowing\u201d when Anthopoulos asked if he wanted to be a candidate for the job. And to Freeman, Weiss\u2019 institutional knowledge mattered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Braves are different, they really are,\u201d said Freeman, who played for Atlanta from 2010 to 2021 before leaving for the Dodgers as a free agent. \u201cWhen you put on that uniform, it means something. They care about the \u2018A,\u2019 the Braves, how it runs over there.<\/p>\n
\u201cWalt knows all that. But he has his own style.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Braves hired Weiss on Nov. 3. The team\u2019s first full workout in spring training was Feb. 15. Weiss said he spent virtually every day in between thinking about what he would say the first time he addressed the club.<\/p>\n
The transition from bench coach to manager often is tricky. Relationships with players change. Managing again for the first time in almost 10 years, Weiss no longer was in a supporting role. He needed to separate from the bench coach\u2019s role. He was in charge.<\/p>\n
\u201cClarity was paramount,\u201d Weiss said. \u201cI tried to, more or less, make things as black and white as I could. About what the expectations were. How we were going to operate. What our identity needed to be. All those things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clarity, Weiss said, is more important than agreement \u2014 his message will be clear, even if a player disagrees with him. Yet, his emphasis on direct communication wasn\u2019t the only thing that resonated with his players and coaches.<\/p>\n
Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, one of eight new coaches on Weiss\u2019 staff, said one word stuck with him: Gratitude.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hadn\u2019t really heard that in a baseball locker room,\u201d Hefner said. \u201cA lot of times, for me personally, it\u2019s not ungratefulness, but it\u2019s almost like you\u2019re expected to be here. Instead of a posture of humility, grateful to put the uniform on, grateful to show up to the yard and work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gratitude, though, wasn\u2019t Weiss\u2019 principal theme. He focused more on how a player\u2019s mentality can be a difference-maker, especially in a sport where games take place nearly every day.<\/p>\n
As a player, Weiss was hard-nosed. He wanted his team to be the same way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI talked about how that mentality needs to be very aggressive,\u201d he said. \u201cNot reckless in how we play the game, but a very aggressive mindset. Because once you start getting careful in this game, you start to get dominated.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s human nature when you\u2019re struggling. You don\u2019t want to make a mistake. It\u2019s got to be just the opposite, especially when you start to struggle. You\u2019ve got to become even more aggressive in your mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was not the kind of speech Snitker necessarily would have given \u2013 Snitker never played in the majors, and had a different kind of competitive edge. But Weiss is different than Snitker, just as Snitker was different from Cox. And the Braves players seem to welcome the fierceness of their new manager.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone who had the career he did, with the intensity he played with, it kind of trickles down to us,\u201d Braves first baseman Matt Olson said.<\/p>\n
Farmer added, \u201cHis personality speaks for itself. He\u2019s managing like we\u2019re trying to win every game. It\u2019s a playoff mentality, which is really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Francisco Giants infield coach Ron Washington, Weiss\u2019 colleague on the Braves\u2019 staff from 2018 to \u201923, said he loved how Weiss was no-nonsense, straight from the hip, not one to sugarcoat his point if tough conversations were required.<\/p>\n
As a manager, Weiss said, those conversations are inevitable, making it imperative that he not only earn his players\u2019 trust, but also sustain it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen, when you do have the tough conversations, the relationship\u2019s not fractured,\u201d he said. \u201cIf there\u2019s no trust and then you have a tough conversation, they don\u2019t want anything to do with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The beauty of going from bench coach to manager \u2014 and the risk \u2014 is that Weiss already had relationships with his core players. He knew in his new position of leadership, \u201ceverything would change.\u201d But Braves people say his personality did not.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest compliment I can give him is that he\u2019s the exact same,\u201d Anthopoulos said. \u201cHe has different responsibilities, but he\u2019s the same person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freeman related a story from the Freeway Series in late March, when he asked Angels star Mike Trout about the club\u2019s new manager, Kurt Suzuki. Both Freeman and Trout are former teammates of Suzuki\u2019s, and Freeman calls him a friend.<\/p>\n
What Trout told Freeman about Suzuki matched what Anthopoulos said about Weiss. In their new positions, they acted just as they did before.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the key,\u201d Freeman said. \u201cEverybody loves you. Don\u2019t be anybody different. Don\u2019t try to go on a power trip. Don\u2019t do all that.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Dowd said Weiss is too humble to give off a \u201csmartest guy in the room\u201d air. But when it comes to analyzing swings, O\u2019Dowd regards Weiss, a hitter whose career OPS was 22 percent below league-average, as practically a savant.<\/p>\n
A few years back, O\u2019Dowd met Weiss for several days at a biomechanical lab in Arizona. The visit, O\u2019Dowd said, educated him about players\u2019 movement patterns, \u201copening up a whole world to me\u201d about why some hitters can do things others can\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Braves hitting coach Tim Hyers, one of two holdovers from Snitker\u2019s staff, said Weiss told him that after his playing days, he went on a journey to learn as much as he could about the swing.<\/p>\n
Hyers, after joining the Braves last year, learned that he and Weiss share similar philosophies about how a hitter\u2019s lower half and upper body must work together, but also with separation to allow the hands to work and create force. Hyers discovered as well that Weiss on his phone keeps video of all-time greats he enjoys studying \u2014 Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Bonds, Ted Williams.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt surprised me that he went that in depth and understood the body,\u201d Hyers said. \u201cThe terms he was using are terms not every person uses. He\u2019s got a passion for fielding and all parts of the game. But the hitting part, at the beginning, I wouldn\u2019t say it shocked me, but I didn\u2019t know that he had spent so much time looking into the swing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weiss is cerebral in other ways, too. O\u2019Dowd said the Rockies did not use analytics during Weiss\u2019 time as manager; he was exposed to them only after joining the Braves. Weiss did not hesitate to embrace the information. As bench coach, he was \u201cintellectually curious,\u201d Anthopoulos said.<\/p>\n
Swanson, who has stayed in touch with Weiss since leaving the Braves for the Cubs as a free agent after the 2022 season, admires the way his former coach blends old-school principles and new.<\/p>\n
Making clear that he is in no way criticizing Snitker, his former manager, Swanson said, \u201cThe reason I say they\u2019re different is that Walt has such a good feel for the way the game is changing and evolving. And he\u2019s willing to evolve with it, while also understanding some of the old-school things.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiscipline is important. Being on time is important. Hustling is important. A lot of that Snit believed in as well. I just think Walt has this edge to him, \u2018Hey, the game is trending in this kind of direction. We need to figure out ways we can play in this new style.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Or, as O\u2019Dowd put it, \u201cHe\u2019s totally open-minded to other people\u2019s opinions, that they might be better than his. He\u2019s not so arrogant that he thinks only his ideas are good.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the end, though, Weiss believes his job is less about outsmarting the opposing manager and more about getting the most out of his own players.<\/p>\n
Weiss said a player asks three questions when evaluating his coach or manager: Does he care about me? Can I trust him? Can he help me get better?<\/p>\n
In Weiss\u2019 view, the first two answers are far more important than the third.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get judged by our bullpen moves, more or less, in this seat,\u201d Weiss said. \u201cYou go to the playoffs and when (people) rehash the game, it\u2019s, you should have brought in this guy, you brought in that guy. It\u2019s always about the bullpen moves.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut this position is all about leadership. Are you a good leader or not? Period. If you\u2019re a good leader, and these guys believe what you say and they trust you, they\u2019ll do anything for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Play hard. Play hurt. Play not for themselves, but for the greater good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Dansby Swanson recalls, the conversation took place in the spring of 2019, before he was fully established…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2394],"tags":[537,191,46,4166,5,192,52,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-680938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-braves","8":"tag-athletics","9":"tag-atlanta","10":"tag-atlanta-braves","11":"tag-atlantabraves","12":"tag-baseball","13":"tag-braves","14":"tag-colorado-rockies","15":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116447816969044765","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2016-06-24T072401Z_1191144600_MT1USATODAY9353653_RTRMADP_3_MLB-ARIZONA-DIAMONDBACKS-AT-COLORADO-ROCK.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n