Chipper Jones brings up great point about Braves manager search

There’s a reason the same few names — David Ross, Walt Weiss, Mark DeRosa, and others — keep coming up from every MLB insider when discussing the Braves manager search. It’s not that anyone has inside information yet. In fact, Alex Anthopoulos said over the weekend that he hasn’t even begun putting together a list of candidates.

Still, the Braves have a clear way of doing things. They’ve consistently hired from within and rarely gone outside their organizational bubble — a philosophy that’s been in place since Bobby Cox was leading the franchise. That continuity has served them well for more than three decades.

There hasn’t been much reason to change course, but Chipper Jones raised an interesting point while discussing the vacancy on 680 The Fan’s Chuck and Chernoff. This will be Anthopoulos’ first managerial hire as general manager. Brian Snitker was already in place when Anthopoulos took over in 2017, meaning no one truly knows what kind of manager he prefers.

“We don’t know what Alex is thinking,” Jones said. “He’s never had to do this before. Is he going to get somebody from the outside? Is he going to get somebody with very little experience? Is he going to get a bunch of experience? Is it going to be old school? Is it going to be a Braves lineage guy? Nobody knows.”

That’s what makes this search so intriguing. Anthopoulos could go in several directions, and if history tells us anything, it’s that he acts with conviction and decisiveness. If he identifies the right person for the job — whether they have ties to the Braves or not — he won’t hesitate.

Still, Chipper Jones hopes the next skipper reflects the same qualities that defined leaders like Bobby Cox and Brian Snitker.

“I would like to see an apple that hasn’t fallen too far from the tree,” Jones added.

Many fans want the Braves to make a dramatic change, convinced that Snitker was part of the problem last season. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. The Braves have been one of baseball’s model franchises for more than 30 years by sticking to their principles. Sometimes, the best path forward is the one that got you here.