Atlanta Braves Prospects, Coaches and Executives Talk Rebuild at Hot Stove Event

The Rome Braves held their annual Hot Stove Event on Saturday, and as the organization took time to thank fans and celebrate the team’s 2016 South Atlantic League Championship, players, coaches and executives talked rebuild.

If the large crowd that packed the Forum Civic Center in downtown Rome, Georgia on Saturday was any indication, Atlanta Braves fans are starting to buy into the organization’s rebuild, especially at the minor league level.

Low-A affiliate Rome holds the off-season event annually, and usually features a mix of prospects, current big league players, field staff, and Atlanta front office executives.

This year’s Hot Stove hosted minor league players  Mike Soroka, Austin Riley, Chase Johnson-Mullins, Kolby Allard, Touki Toussaint, Max Fried, Patrick Weigel, Stephen Gaylor and Bradley Keller, along with Rome’s trainer Nick Jensen, manager Randy Ingle, pitching coach Dan Meyer, and hitting coach Bobby Moore.

From the Atlanta Braves front office were President of Baseball Operations John Hart, General Manager John Coppolella, and Assistant Director of Player Development Jonathan Schuerholz.

As I had a chance to talk one-on-one with Hot Stove attendees, the overwhelming theme of this year’s event inevitably became talk of Atlanta’s organizational rebuild.

Both major contributors to success to Rome’s success last season, pitching prospects Mike Soroka and Touki Toussaint said the winning attitude on the farm last season was not by chance.

“Jonathan [Schuerholz] and Dave [Trembley] came to us last year in spring training and they made it pretty clear that they wanted to build a winning atmosphere,” Soroka said. “That’s ultimately what it’s all about in professional baseball.”

Echoing his teammate, Toussaint talked organizational expectations. “Spring training last year they kind of sat us down and were like this is the year we’re going to start building championship teams,” he said. “I guess we all took that as an expectation and a standard and to not try and fall short.”

John Coppolella talks rebuild, scouting, player evaluation

Braves general manager John Coppolella had a lot to say about the progress that’s been made down on the farm, and at Rome specifically. “We took this over in 2014. Our first draft was 2015, and our first four picks were from high school,” Coppolella said. “The first four guys were all on this Rome team: Allard, Soroka, Riley, Herbert. They all played big parts.”

Coppy also spoke on successful trades that paid off, like Touki Toussaint and Max Fried. “A lot of different players from a lot of different backgrounds came together and did something really special, and we’re really proud of that.”

I asked Coppolella about the importance of a player’s competitive toughness, a phrase that the Super Bowl-bound Falcons used in their rapid rebuild, and how characteristics like that contribute to the success of his overall plan.

“That all starts in the draft with [scouts] Brian Bridges and Roy Clark, and in the foreign market Gordon Blakeley and his group,” Coppolella said. “They do such a great job looking at a player’s makeup.” He said front office staff will often personally meet with a lot of players, and takes an active role getting to know prospects.

“It’s not just about one guy, but it’s about the other 24 that he’s with, so want to get to know these players,” the Braves GM said. “From that standpoint I think it’s something that we seek out from the very start of it, but for us more than anything, the cream rises to the top, and I think these guys push each other.”

Brian Snitker on building “the right way”

Atlanta manager Brian Snitker had a lot to say about getting back to building from the bottom up. “This rebuild, or however you want to say it, that John [Coppolella] and John [Hart] have instrumented, is very similar to what Bobby [Cox], Stan Kasten, Paul Snyder and that group did, back when Bobby took over.”

“They started at the ground floor, which is your minor league system, and they did it the right way, and they reaped the benefits of that for a long time,” Snitker said of the 80’s and 90’s Braves front office. “We got away from it, I think, but now we’re kind of getting back there, and I think it’s going to be very similar to what we saw back in the 90’s.”

Randy Ingle on player development

The only other person in the Braves organization with as much tenure as Brian Snitker would be Rome manager Randy Ingle. I asked the South Atlantic League Hall of Famer about keeping low-A players focused and motivated through their first taste of full schedule professional baseball.

“The key ingredient is staying positive, and believing in them,” Randy Ingle said of young prospects. “They can see right through you if you don’t [believe]. Our staff does a great job on that. If we lose a game, we come back trying to teach, and trying to get better. If we win, we come back trying to get better for next time.” 

With an embarrassment of riches on the mound at Rome this season, I also asked how Ingle’s staff managed to keep his top prospects focused on development over statistics through a rough first half for his club.

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“Our pitching coach Dan Meyer did a great job,” Ingle said, deflecting credit. “When they see it actually work, and when they see it in the bullpen, that gives them confidence, and makes believers. Then the only thing they have to do is put it to work in the game, stay with it, and believe in it.”

Ingle said he’s ready to get started on the next group this spring, and is ready to see what the next group of young prospects has to offer.

“With the talent we had here last year, the scouts do a tremendous job,” Ingle said. “They’ve got some really good talent out of that [Rome] club last year, and also some players they’ve signed in high school and college last year that are coming up next year.”

Speaking of Braves organization veterans like Brian Snitker and Randy Ingle, their general manager had a lot of praise for his most experienced managers.

Coppolella on Brian Snitker

“Snit is a Brave, and when we brought him in as interim manager, we knew that he would always put our players first, always do the right things, and put the Braves organization first. Seeing what he did, I think even if you ask him, probably exceeded expectations. That being said, everybody knows Brian Snitker, they’ve seen him for 40 years, and know what he’s about.”

“Snit is always going to watch out for our players, he’s always going to put them in the best spot.

This is somebody that, for me as the team’s GM, I have never experienced: roughly three quarters of the team finding me, singling me out, and saying this is the best manager I’ve ever had, hire this man. It was to where, if I didn’t, we’re all facing some kind of mutiny here,” Coppolella said smiling.

“Brian earned it. Brian has always put the Braves first. No matter what, whether he’s our manager for the next 20 years, or whatever he is… Brian is a Brave, and through highs and lows, through all levels of it, this is a good man who we’re very fortunate to have, and that we hope is going to be here a very long time.”

Coppolella on Randy Ingle

“Randy Ingle is awesome. He and Snit are cut from the same cloth. Randy is a special, and he’s perfect for these kids. He’s kind of like John Wayne. He’s a big guy, deep voice, and he’s a perfect guy for them. We always talk about ‘we and us.’ It’s not about any one person; Randy Ingle and Brian Snitker are ‘we and us’ kind of guys.”

Coppolella on success at Rome throughout the farm system in 2016

Finally, I asked the Braves GM what it meant to his vision for the organization to have so much success and playoff experience in the minors this past season. “It means a great deal to us. It’s something that the Braves organization takes great pride in.”

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Coppy also spoke highly of the Rome club, specifically. “This is a team that’s special for so many reasons. Number one it was the youngest team in the South Atlantic League in well over a decade; number two, just the way the guys got better as the year went on. They played for each other, they played to win; number three, we don’t ever stack teams to win.

I don’t want to win with guys who are 25 in Rome, to the point where we send Patrick Weigel to up to double-A with a few weeks left, because we’re more concerned about giving Patrick a good opportunity, helping his career get advanced, than we were with trying to win games.”

Of Rome’s youth in 2016, Coppolella spoke about setting up young players for success. “If we’re going with young kids, and we’re putting them in the right spots to be successful, and to see what these guys did; to see in their two [playoff] series, the four guys to start, all four of them threw so well, all four of them are first round picks, all four of them fed off of each other. It’s big for us.”

Coppy doubled down on the bottom up theme, emphasizing the importance of keeping teams heavy on Braves prospects. “We’ve won minor league championships with guys who were not part of the Braves future. To win it with so many players on this [Rome] team who are so big a part of our future, it means a great deal. The fact that this was the Baseball America Team of the Year, the fact that this team was so young, and that this team won and kept getting better.”

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“There’s a reason we all showed up for this,” Coppolella said. “We have so much pride in what this team did, and we have such high hopes for the futures of these kids.”