Perry Minasian has returned to the Atlanta Braves to strengthen their front office. According to MLBTR, the team is hiring him to fill a key role. According to Jesús Cano of The Athletic, Minasian will take on a senior advisor role for amateur scouting.
This is the same job Dana Brown took when he returned to the club just last week. Both men once held high-ranking posts in Atlanta before running their own baseball operations for other teams.
A Return To Familiar Ground
Minasian and Brown were once vital parts of the Atlanta machine. Brown worked as the vice president of scouting, while Minasian served as the assistant general manager. The Angels hired Minasian as their general manager over the 2020-21 offseason. Brown got a similar job with the Astros three years later.
Both executives were let go by their former clubs within a few months of each other this summer. Following Minasian’s dismissal in late June, the Angels appointed John Mozeliak as the interim boss. Houston moved on from Brown in August, though the team called it a mutual parting. Owner Jim Crane has made it clear the decision was essentially unilateral.
Neither man had a wildly successful run as a general manager, but both are skilled at spotting talent. Alex Anthopoulos, who long served as Atlanta’s president of baseball operations, clearly continues to place trust in them. Minasian also worked in scouting with the Blue Jays when Anthopoulos ran the Toronto front office.
The Angels failed to reach the postseason during Minasian’s five and a half seasons leading the team. He inherited a tough situation where owner Arte Moreno refused to rebuild despite a lack of homegrown talent. That approach made sense while Shohei Ohtani was still under contract, but the team did not change after Ohtani left for the Dodgers. The franchise has experienced some of its most dismal seasons over their last three years.
This year’s 62-100 record stands as the worst mark in the 66-year history of the organization. Despite that failure, the Braves see value in Minasian’s eye for players. The team needs strong leadership to find the next wave of stars in the draft. Rehiring people who know the system and the president is a smart, low-risk play. It shows the organization values experience over flashy new names. The front office is not looking for a miracle worker right now. They want steady hands to guide the scouting department.
Bringing Minasian and Brown back suggests Atlanta is focused on fixing the farm system from the ground up. The Angels and Astros moves did not work out, but the lessons learned are valuable. The Braves have a chance to use that experience to build a better team. Fans should expect a focus on amateur players rather than big free-agent splurges. The goal is to create a pipeline of talent that can last for years. This move signals a shift back to the core principles that built the team.
The baseball world watches closely to see how Minasian handles this new role. He has a lot to prove after his time in Los Angeles. The Braves are betting on his past success in Toronto and his time in Atlanta.
