Braves bring in several new minor league coaches

Atlanta's farm system is stocked full of talent, and there will be more new faces and new voices for the prospects in 2020.

The Braves will have some stability with the managers of the top four minor league affiliates, but there are plenty of other changes as the team announced its minor league coaching staffs for 2020 on Friday.

Damon Berryhill (4 straight season) will manage Triple-A Gwinnett, with Chris Maloney returning to Double-A Mississippi for the third straight season. Barrett Kleinknecht will be back in High-A Florida as the manager for the second straight year, while Matt Tuiasosopo heads to Rome for his second consecutive season as the Low-A manager.

Former MLB outfielder Michael Saunders will be the new manager in Danville. Saunders just retired after a nine-year career with the Mariners, Blue Jays and Phillies. Anthony Nunez, who managed Danville last season, will now manage Atlanta’s team in the Gulf Coast League.

Mike Maroth (Gwinnett), Dan Meyer (Florida) and Kanekoa Texeira (Rome) return as pitching coaches. David Chavarria will replace the retired Dennis Llewellyn as Mississippi’s pitching coach. Chavarria was Atlanta’s rehab pitching coordinator last season. He spent seven seasons as a coach with the Brewers and 11 seasons with the Rangers before joining the Braves last year.

Doug Mansolino is in his second season as the team’s field coordinator. Paul Davis is the new pitching coordinator. Davis was Seattle’s MLB pitching coach last season but lasted only one season. He had been the Cardinals’ manager of pitching analytics. Davis also taught psychology at the university level before joining the Cardinals’ organization in 2013.

JD Closser, who spent parts of three seasons as a catcher with the Colorado Rockies, is the new catching coordinator. He held the same position with the Yankees, for whom he worked for six years. Mike Brumley is back as the hitting coordinator.

The Braves will also have former Atlanta coaches Terry Pendleton and Eddie Perez as special assistants to player development, along with former longtime MLB coach DeMarlo Hale, who joined the organization last season.