While most of the attention on the Atlanta Braves is rightly on what is going on with the big league club right now, the minor leagues are going to ramp up soon in a big way. Sure, the Braves minor leagues are not as strong as they were a couple of years ago, the farm system is better and more interesting than folks give it credit for.
With that in mind, yesterday the Braves announced their minor league coaching staffs for 2023. If you want to know every single name, our friends over at Battery Power put out the release for you to take a look at. While we aren't going to go too deep in the weeds, here is a quick rundown of the major players and changes in the minor league coaching staff for the Braves going into 2023.
Gwinnett Stripers
Matt Tuiasosopo is back to manage the Stripers yet again. Matt is highly regarded in the organization by staff and players alike. Before his stint with the Stripers, he managed the Rome Braves and he was in the Braves' organization as a player before that. Really good to see him back. Craig Bjornson is the new pitching coach at Gwinnett as Mike Maroth (who I still maintain would have been a great big league pitching coach for the Braves) moved on to coach at UCF. The rumor is that Maroth's move was a personal one, so hopefully all is well with him. Bjornson was the Mets' bullpen coach before joining the Braves' minor league staff.
Former Braves farmhand Wigberto Nevarez returns yet again as a member of the coaching staff along with hitting coach Carlos Mendez and coach Stevie Wilkerson (the latter of which was playing independent ball as recently as last season).
Mississippi Braves
At the helm for Double-A Mississippi this year is going to be a familiar name to followers of the Braves' minor leagues as Kanekoa Texeira gets bumped up to Double-A. Tex had managed the Rome Braves the last couple of seasons after a finishing his career out with the Braves organization. Texeira is very good with young pitchers and it is nice to see that the Braves are putting him in a more prominent role. Bo Henning returns as Mississippi's pitching coach.
We do see some changes to the hitting coaching staff as Danny Santiesteban is the Double-A hitting coach for 2023. Santiesteban was Rome's hitting coach previously, so again....a nice little promotion for him as well. He is joined on the Mississippi coaching staff by Jefferson Romero who has previously managed the Braves' Dominican Summer League team.
Rome Braves
There are a lot of changes for the Rome staff as almost everyone got some sort of promotion. Angel Flores was an assistant coach for Rome in 2021 and a coach for Mississippi in 2022. He gets the promotion to manager for Rome this season. Mike Steed will be the pitching coach after coaching the low-A Augusta GreenJackets last season.
Rome replaced Santiesteban with Garrett Wilkinson as their hitting coach. Wilkinson formerly worked with the Braves' FCL rookie ball affiliate. He is joined on the staff by long time Rome coach Bobby Moore. Bobby is an institution with the Rome Braves at this point and it is awesome to see him and his infectious smile back yet again.
Augusta GreenJackets
There are also a bunch of changes to the Augusta staff as Cody Gabella is the new manager of the GreenJackets and replaces Nestor Perez. Gabella was the manager of the Braves' FCL rookie affiliate and gets bumped up for 2023 while also having some experience coaching in the Cardinals' organization. Wes McGuire joins the Augusta staff as their pitching coach after serving in the same capacity with the Rome Braves in 2022.
Connor Narron remained with the team to be their hitting coach again in 2023 and is joined on the coaching staff by Francisco Diaz.