Braves coach Kevin Seitzer talks about his firing: “I don’t blame Alex”

ATLANTA – Shortly after Kevin Seitzer was informed Thursday that he was fired as the Braves’ hitting coach, Seitzer said it was the most difficult season of his coaching career because he couldn’t get hitters to stop pressing and over-pressing trying to pick up the slack when others were injured or broke down and the team was struggling.

But it was also an extremely difficult time for Seitzer off the field, as he confided in the interview The athlete continues Thursday. His wife Beth was diagnosed with colon cancer mid-season and required emergency surgery. This was the “family matter” that was brought up when Seitzer was away from the team in late June to be by his wife’s side before and after surgery.

When the 62-year-old Seitzer received a call from Alex Anthopoulos, the Braves’ president of baseball operations, at his home in suburban Kansas City, informing him that he had been relieved of his duties because there was only one left on his contract Year is running, the news was a hard blow. But not nearly as hard as it would have been if Beth hadn’t been healthy with him.

“She beat cancer for the second time,” Seitzer said of Beth, who battled ovarian cancer 20 years ago. “After going through what we did with it this year and being able to come out the other side, I couldn’t be more grateful. And it is a testimony, a reminder that people should get checked (for colon cancer) even if there are no signs of it.”

Seitzer was fired Thursday along with assistant hitting coach Bobby Magallanes and catching coach Sal Fasano. The Braves have not announced the moves, but the coaches have all been informed. The Braves plan to fill both hitting coach positions, but will not replace Fasano, who held a position for seven years that did not exist with the Braves before Anthopoulos created it specifically for Fasano.

The move came eight days after the Braves were defeated by the San Diego Padres in two games of an NL Wild Card Series.

Seitzer just completed his 10th season as the Braves’ hitting coach, by far the longest season an MLB hitting coach has spent with the team he coached last season. Just a year ago, Seitzer was named Baseball America’s MLB Coach of the Year after the Braves led the majors in virtually every major hitting category in 2023, including average (.276), OBP (.344), slugging percentage ( .501), OPS (.845), runs (947) and home runs (307).

They tied the MLB single-season homer record and became the first team in history to bat .500 or more for an entire season.

“It was a tough year this year, though,” Seitzer said. “I don’t blame Alex. I don’t blame him for a second.”

This season, the Braves slipped to middle of the pack in many offensive categories. The team has been plagued by injuries throughout the season, playing the final four months and the postseason without 2023 NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. and four other hitters from the Opening Day lineup missing at least two months due to injuries, including 2023 All-Stars. Stars Austin Riley, Sean Murphy and Ozzie Albies as well as midfielder Michael Harris II.

But Braves officials decided that continued slumps for so many players, including each of the five named plus 2023 MLB homer and RBI leader Matt Olson, warranted a coaching change and new direction. This despite manager Brian Snitker, Anthopoulos and former and current Braves players repeatedly praising Seitzer as a coach and person.

“It’s just part of the game,” said Seitzer, a veteran former major league corner infielder who spent six seasons as a hitting coach with three other MLB teams — Arizona, Toronto, Kansas City — before being hired by Atlanta . “I have no animosity toward the Braves and have always been grateful for every day I had the opportunity to put on a major league jersey.

“We had great success and won a World Series. I couldn’t be more grateful to Alex and the Braves for having me for this long.”

Seitzer was a career .295 hitter in 12 seasons with four MLB teams, including six with the Royals, for whom he hit .323 with 56 extra-base hits (eight triples, 15 home runs) and hit .869 as a rookie in 1987 OPS hitting He finished second in All-Star and AL Rookie of the Year honors after leading the majors in plate appearances (725) and hits (207).

He was considered an elite situational batsman with decent power. But Seitzer was known more for his patience, his command of the strike zone and his ability to consistently put the ball in play, move runners over them or put them in play. If there was a major criticism of his recent Braves teams, it was their lack of situational hitting, although that emphasis on hitting wasn’t so much his doing as it was a reflection of the way the team was constructed.

Throughout the season and even after his dismissal, Seitzer never made excuses, never literally put players under pressure and never criticized their performance. On the contrary.

“It was the hardest season of my life because the guys tried so hard and couldn’t get going and I couldn’t get them to (not press),” Seitzer said. “If they can find someone who can make these people not try so hard, then that has to be the guy they hire. You can talk mechanics until the cows come home, but this (problems this season) was all between the ears.”

The Braves have taken action now to give coaches time to apply for open positions with other teams instead of waiting until some open positions are filled later in the offseason.

Seitzer said if you had asked him last week, he definitely would have said he planned to continue coaching. But after he was fired Thursday, he had no answer about his future.

“Every day I get up — and I told Alex this — I get up, pray and commit my day to God,” Seitzer said. “He is in control. So we’ll see what He has in store for me. If we want to continue, we’ll do it. And if he tells me to close it, I will.”

Noting how recent the news of his firing was, Seitzer laughed and added: “He doesn’t usually reply to me within 20 minutes.”

(Photo of Kevin Seitzer with Orlando Arcia: Rich von Biberstein / Icon Sportswire via Associated Press)