Two Former Braves Linked to Giants Manager Job Before Vitello Hire

One of these former Atlanta Braves players has been hired out west as well to manage

Before Vitello got the job, two former Braves were linked to the position | Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The dominoes are starting to fall across the league for new managers for the 2026 seasons. While Tennessee Volunteers head coach Tony Vitello won the position with the Giants out in San Francisco, two Atlanta Braves players came up in reports.

According to MLB.com's Brian Murphy, former Braves catcher Kurt Suzuki and former utility player Mark DeRosa were linked to the Giants manager position. Suzuki has since been hired to be the Angels manager, so he still got to go out west for a managerial job.

Suzuki was not a speculative candidate for the Braves, but DeRosa, until recent reports, was a speculative candidate to succeed Brian Snitker in Atlanta. According to MLB.com's Mark Bowman, he is essentially ruled out, along with fellow speculative candidates and former Cubs manager David Ross and former Blue Jays manager John Gibbons.

To the chagrin of Vols fans in Braves Country, Vitello was not a confirmed, or even a speculative candidate for the job.

Vitello had been the Vols manager since 2018 and notably won the College World Series in 2024, the first in program history. Between the Braves winning the World Series in 2021 and that title, there was certainly an overlap in baseball championship celebrations.

College baseball head coaches jumping to the Major Leagues is not a common practice. The Vitello hire is the first of its kind. This automatically took away much thought of him being a candidate, if there was any at all. Reports have the Braves choosing to focus on current bench coaches.

The following are the most likely targets: Dodgers' Danny Lehmann, Tigers' George Lombard and Cubs' Ryan Flaherty. The latter two had stints with the Braves during their playing careers. Flaherty played under Snitker in 2018.

Along with Vitello and Suzuki, Skip Schumaker, who was a potential Braves managerial candidate, earned the job in Arlington, Texas, with the Rangers. He had already been with the organization, earning an in-house promotion.

It is sounding likely that we won't know who the Braves manager will be until after the World Series, with Lehmann set to coach it starting with Game 1 on Friday. If these are the three candidates for certain, then playoff experience will be brought to the table regardless. One of them could be bringing World Series-winning experience. That being said, this would be the World Series held by MLB, not the College equivalent that impressed the Giants.