Chipper Jones on Braves hiring Walt Weiss as manager

Jones appeared on 680 The Fan on Tuesday to explain why he believes Weiss is the right fit to lead a club with championship aspirations coming off one of its most disappointing seasons in recent memory.

“I want somebody that I trust from day one,” Jones said. “I want somebody that has the clubhouse from day one. Somebody new, somebody that doesn’t have any experience, they have to earn it. And we have to wait for that. I think this is the right fit for this team. They’ve all bled baseball together, and everybody trusts Walt, knows that he has their back, and that’s pretty important to the guys inside that clubhouse.”

Chipper Jones is the living embodiment of the “Braves Way,” so his endorsement of Weiss is hardly surprising. When the search began, Jones said he hoped Alex Anthopoulos would hire someone familiar with the organization.

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

The Braves’ decision to hire the 61-year-old Weiss might have been predictable, but it’s also consistent with how the organization has operated for decades. Weiss will be just the fourth Braves manager in the last 35 years, and every one of them spent significant time within the organization before being promoted. Still, this choice runs counter to the league’s recent trend of hiring younger, analytics-driven managers — many of whom just stopped playing. But as Jones pointed out, age doesn’t have to be viewed as a negative.

“When a guy walks in the clubhouse and he’s got 14 years of playing experience under his belt and championships under his belt, and then 11-12 years experience in the coaching realm, he walks in with instant street cred. You’re like, ‘Okay, I can go to battle with this guy.'”

There’s a misconception that “old” means outdated, but experience should be viewed as a strength, not a flaw. The problem arises when managers resist change, not when they’ve logged more years in the game. Weiss, to his credit, doesn’t seem to fall into that category. In his introductory press conference, he emphasized his commitment to information and adaptability.

“I’ve evolved with the game. I think if you don’t, you’re a fool. My philosophy is, why would anybody, especially in a position of leadership, turn their back on information? Alex has done a great job, and his team has done a great job of blending the wisdom that comes from being in uniform for a number of years and the information that’s available to us today, and the technology that’s available.”

Information is available to anyone willing to use it. Anthopoulos has long ensured that his managers have every tool necessary to succeed; how they implement it is what separates the good ones from the great ones. The best managers find the right balance between feel and analytics, and that will be Weiss’s biggest test. Soon enough, we’ll learn whether he can follow in the footsteps of his predecessor and get the Braves back to competing for championships.