Ron Washington has received his deserved managerial opportunity with the Los Angeles Angels. The former Rangers manager led Texas to two pennants. Washington expressed interest in the Houston Astros opening as well, but their loss is the Angels gain.
Washington played a major role in forming the Braves clubhouse culture, which has been overwhelmingly positive during his tenure as the team's third base coach. He's also helped several Braves infielders build on strong seasons, including Austin Riley, Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies and Vaughn Grissom.
The Angels let Phil Nevin, leaving an obvious opening for a team hoping to make the most out of the remainder of Mike Trout's career. The Angels have a lot of holes, but also some young talent on the rise. A manager like Washington who has experience working with that sort of potential will only help matters. As FanSided's Cody Williams noted on Tuesday night, Washington's relationship with Perry Minasian played a key role in his consideration for the job:
"Angels general manager Perry Minasian is familiar with Washington from the Braves third base coach's long time in MLB. Minasian was a scout with the Rangers while Washington was the manager in Texas -- a club he led to the World Series twice -- and worked in the Atlanta front office when Washington was hired in 2017 by the Braves," Williams wrote.
Who could replace Ron Washington for the Atlanta Braves?
Predicting who will replace Washington with Atlanta is tough. Perhaps Brian Snitker already has someone in mind. However, if he's looking for an upstart candidate, Chipper Jones would make a lot of sense.
Jones has worked with the Braves as a hitting instructor on multiple occasions since his retirement. Braves players were honored to work with an MLB legend at the time, and considering his knowledge of the game and experience at third base from his playing career, it would be a natural fit. Snitker had nothing but good things to say about Chipper during spring training:
"He's embraced it. I tell you what he's all over the place. It's been awesome. In here in the clubhouse talking with not just the hitters, the other coaches. It's exactly what I thought it would be. Chipper's a baseball player. What he's brought already has been really really good," Snitker said at the time.
It's a longshot, and potentially one Snitker doesn't want to entertain given Jones Hall-of-Fame status, which could be intimidating on a team full a young players.