Braves Name Greg Walker as Hitting Coach
October 21st, 2011 — georgiasportstalk
ATLANTA, Ga. – Atlanta Braves Executive Vice President and General Manager Frank Wren and Manager Fredi Gonzalez today announced the hiring of Greg Walker as the Braves’ hitting coach and Scott Fletcher as the advance coach/assistant hitting coach, thus completing the club’s Major League coaching staff for the 2012 season.
Walker, 52, most recently served as the hitting coach for the Chicago White Sox for eight-and-a-half seasons, from May 2003 through 2011. He also worked as the hitting coach for Chicago’s Triple-A Charlotte affiliate in 2002-03. Since his promotion to the Major League Club in 2003, the White Sox ranked third in the majors in home runs (1,791) and seventh in slugging percentage (.430).
As a player, Walker posted a .260 career batting average with 113 home runs and 444 RBIs in 855 games over a nine-year career (1982-90) with the White Sox and Baltimore Orioles.
Walker is a native of Douglas, Ga. (Coffee High School), and still makes his home there. He was originally drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1977 and was later chosen by the White Sox in the Rule 5 Draft in 1979. Walker made his Major League debut in 1982. In 1984 he posted a career-high .294 batting average, with 24 home runs and 75 RBI, followed by 24 homers and 92 RBI in 1985. He established career highs of 27 home runs and 94 RBI in 1987.
Walker began his coaching career with the White Sox organization as the hitting coach at Charlotte in 2002. He was promoted to the same position with the Major League Club in May 2003. In his first full season in 2004, the White Sox hit a franchise-record 242 home runs. In their World Championship season of 2005, the Sox ranked fourth in the American League with 200 home runs, but still led the league in sacrifice hits (53) and bunt hits (37) and ranked third in infield hits (156).
Walker was a member of the American League All-Star coaching staff in 2006, when the Sox led the majors in home runs (236), slugging percentage (.464) and batting average with runners in scoring position (.307), while ranking third in runs scored (868) and fifth in overall batting average (.280). The 2006 Sox also featured four players with 30-or-more home runs, making them just the third team in AL history to accomplish that feat.
Under Walker’s guidance, the Sox again led the majors in home runs in 2008, with 235.
Fletcher, 53, will assist Walker in every aspect of the Braves’ hitting program, as well as prepare the Clubs’ advance scouting reports and materials prior to each series.
A native of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., Fletcher played 15 Major League seasons (1981-95) with the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers, Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers. He recently finished his third season as the roving infield coordinator for the Colorado Rockies. He has also worked as a roving instructor in the Tampa Bay organization (1996-97) and as manager of the Single-A Charleston RiverDogs (1997). The former middle infielder owned a career .262 batting average with 243 doubles and collected 1,376 hits in 1,612 career games. For his career, he earned 514 walks compared to striking out just 541 times. He twice posted 30-plus doubles in a season, including 1986 (with Texas) when he established career-highs in batting average (.300) and doubles (34) in 147 games played. Fletcher resides in Peachtree City, Ga.
Returning to the Braves for 2012 will be pitching coach Roger McDowell, first base coach Terry Pendleton, bullpen coach Eddie Perez, third base coach Brian Snitker and bench coach Carlos Tosca. New to the staff in 2012 will be Walker and Fletcher.
Pendleton just completed his 10th campaign on the Braves’ Major League staff in 2011, while McDowell finished his sixth season, Perez and Snitker each wrapped up their fifth season and Tosca finished his first season on the staff.
