Braves bring in Walker as hitting coach

Published November 20, 2014

The Atlanta Braves have hired Greg Walker as their new hitting coach.

Walker, 52, served as the hitting coach of the White Sox for the previous 8 1/2 seasons. Since his promotion from the club's Triple-A affiliate in 2003, the White Sox ranked third in the major leagues in home runs (1,791) and seventh in slugging percentage (.430), while capturing a World Series title in 2005.

He resigned in September following a tumultuous season which saw long-time manager Ozzie Guillen step down and the team finish 79-83 -- third place in the American League Central. The performance of free agent addition Adam Dunn was also a point of concern, as the 11-year veteran registered career lows in batting average (.159) and home runs (11).

As a player, Walker enjoyed a nine-year career, posting a .260 career batting average with 113 home runs and 444 RBI in 855 games with the White Sox and Orioles.

He fills the void left by former Atlanta hitting coach Larry Parrish, who was fired following the team's late-season collapse. The Braves led St. Louis in the NL Wild Card race by 8 1/2 games on September 5, before being overtaken by the Cardinals on the final day of the regular season to miss the playoffs.

The Braves also hired Scott Fletcher as the advance coach/assistant hitting coach, thus rounding out the club's major league coaching staff for the 2012 season as pitching coach Roger McDowell, first base coach Terry Pendleton, bullpen coach Eddie Perez, third base coach Brian Snitker and bench coach Carlos Tosca will all return.

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