BREAKING: Eric Young Sr. to leave Braves and join Ron Washington with Angels
Long time Atlanta Braves first base coach Eric Young has confirmed he is leaving the team to join now-departed third base coach Ron Washington's new staff with the Los Angeles Angels.
Young, 56, has been with the Braves since 2018. After a fifteen-year career in Major League Baseball, including being an inaugural member of the expansion Colorado Rockies in 1993, Young entered into coaching with the Houston Astros, becoming their outfield and base running coach. He got his first on-field coaching role in 2010, joining the Arizona Diamondbacks as their first base coach, later holding the same position with Colorado and then Atlanta.
The Braves have had remarkably little turnover in their major league coaching staff under manager Brian Snitker. Atlanta's granted requested permission for their coaches to interview, but departures have been infrequent until this offseason.
Ron Washington's staff is projected to be one of the more diverse coaching staffs in MLB; Washington is the first Black manager to be hired since 2020, and various names have been floated such as Torii Hunter as 1st base coach, Ryan Goins as infield coach (a hire now confirmed), and Clint Hurdle as bench coach (a role he has since denied interest in).
It's unknown who Atlanta is currently evaluating to fill the holes at 1st and 3rd; we reported a list of potential names as soon as Washington's hire became official, and very few of those candidates have taken themselves out of the running. The Yankees reportedly approached former Cubs manager (and former Braves catcher) David Ross about an assistant role on their staff and he declined, preferring a managerial role; that would potentially rule him out of an assistant job in Atlanta.
UPDATE: Braves insider David O'Brien speculated that Atlanta's plan would be to hire direct replacements for the two roles rather than adjust coaching assignments.
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