Atlanta Braves: 5 Potential Replacements for Fredi Gonzalez

Jun 2, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Atlanta Braves third base coach

against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Bo Porter

If John Hart wanted to promote from within, here’s your guy. Look, Managers aren’t like players. You never know what kind of impact that will have in a different role, but it’s clear that with Porter being the third base coach as well as instructing outfielders, he’s impacted the team already on the base paths and in the field. Porter was the Manager of the Houston Astros from 2012 to 2014.

He finished with a record of 110-190. Here’s where I think that if you’re plainly looking at his record in Houston, you give him another look. Porter was the manager during a transitional period that saw the Astros go from the National League to the American. In that phase, it was hard to acquire the players they needed and place them in roles that would benefit them from being in a different league. It’s almost like they had to retool during his tenure. So his work is a bit skewed, considering he was dealing with a lot of young players and players that didn’t belong in their roles. It seems though that he has a knack for developing young players.

To me, that seems like something that’s been missing from this Atlanta Braves team for a long time. He would be refreshing in the sense that he is not part of the Bobby Cox managerial tree. Which, don’t get me wrong, Bobby Cox will always be a memorable manager. But we’ve seen that it’s clearly time to move on. Bo Porter could bring a much different style to the Braves. But we won’t know until it happens, which might be sooner than later.

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