Walt Weiss speaks on perhaps the Braves most underrated offseason signing

The Atlanta Braves offseason additions — outside of Mike Yastrzemski to this point — have all been essential to the club’s 30-13 start.

Robert Suarez is on track to make his third consecutive All-Star Game while setting up for Raisel Iglesias. Mauricio Dubón’s clutch hitting and defensive versatility have been invaluable. And even veteran Martin Perez, who signed a minor-league deal with the club, has been instrumental during this torrid stretch, posting a 2.31 ERA while filling a variety of roles.

However, the most underrated acquisition might not even be a player.

As Walt Weiss filled out his coaching staff, he opted against retaining longtime pitching coach Rick Kranitz, instead turning to the younger and highly respected Jeremy Hefner, who previously did an excellent job with the New York Mets.

The results speak for themselves through the first seven weeks. The Braves lead all of baseball with a 3.06 ERA, and the production has been remarkably balanced between the rotation and bullpen. Atlanta’s starters rank second with a 3.04 ERA, while the bullpen also sits second at 3.10.

Despite those numbers, Hefner hasn’t received much of the spotlight publicly, but Weiss made sure to praise him during a recent interview with 680 The Fan.

“The message is always very clear with Hefner,” Weiss said. “Whether he’s working with a pitcher, whether we’re talking about moves over the course of a game, I know I can go to him with something and get a straight answer back. And I’m sure our pitchers feel the same way when they’re throwing sides with him.

“He is very in tune with all the new-age information. He’s really adept at pitch grips and release points, pitch design stuff. He’s really good with that stuff, but he also played. He pitched in the big leagues so there’s credibility there. He’s been awesome. I said our whole staff has been really good, but Hefner has really made an impact with our pitching.”

Specifically, Hefner deserves a ton of credit for helping Bryce Elder re-establish himself as a legitimate major-league starter. Elder currently leads baseball in both ERA and ERA+ after spending the previous three seasons as one of the least effective starting pitchers in the sport.

At least some of the success from rookies JR Ritchie and Didier Fuentes has to be attributed to Hefner as well. Then there’s Spencer Strider, arguably the most important player on the roster, whose analytical and detail-oriented approach seems like a perfect fit alongside Hefner.

As a whole, both Weiss and Hefner deserve significant credit for the way this pitching staff has been managed. There are countless moving parts right now, and the Braves still are not entirely sure where everybody fits long term, but you would never know it from the results.

Everybody is contributing, and the Braves new pitching coach is the primary reason for that.

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(Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire)