A second member of the coaching staff of the Atlanta Braves is heading west.
Young stated, “It was a difficult choice, and I’m going to miss the organization and, more importantly, the players and fans.”
The Angels have not yet commented on Young’s appointment as a coach.
The 56-year-old Young has been a member of the Braves coaching staff since 2018 and guided the team to a 2021 World Series victory.
After third base coach Ron Washington declared he would take over as manager of the Angels, he is the second member of the Braves coaching staff to announce their resignation this week.
Trustmark Park in Mississippi was traversed by Ronald Acuna, Jr., Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson, and Austin Riley en route to their World Series championship roles with the Atlanta Braves.
The mayor of Pearl, Jake Windham, stated on Wednesday that the city and he had made every effort to prevent those kinds of players from visiting.
Nevertheless, the Double-A Mississippi Braves and their owners, Diamond Baseball Holdings, revealed this week that they had reached an agreement with Columbus, Georgia, to play the 2025 season in a refurbished stadium there. As a result, the 2024 season will be the team’s final one.
Trustmark Park has 8,480 seats and is owned by Spectrum, a Yates Construction subsidiary based in Mississippi. While Spectrum and Windham were aware that their lease with Diamond Baseball was scheduled to expire at the end of the 2024 season, they also recognized that more money was required.
Windham stated during a press conference on Wednesday, “We are sad to see the Braves leaving. They have been a significant part of our community for 20 years.” It’s crucial to understand that the county and the city addressed the legislature. The passage of legislation was made possible in large part by Speaker [Phillip] Gunn, Dean Kirby, and Lieutenant Governor Hosemann.”
Under the law, Diamond Baseball would have received $1 million annually for revenue streams over what the firm was already receiving from 2025 to 2035.
The Mississippi Braves are one of 28 minor league teams owned by Diamond Holdings.
That proved insufficient in the end, as the Atlanta Braves will own almost every minor league team in the state of Georgia.
On December 21, there were public allegations that Columbus, Georgia, was attempting to steal the Mississippi Braves.Windham stated, “We are not aware of anything like that” at the time. All we can do is wait for the upcoming season, which starts in April.”
He stated on Wednesday that, at the time, he wasn’t worried about it.
“A lot of stories about the Braves leaving are always floating around,” he remarked. “We simply didn’t give the rumors any credence.”
The fact that Major League Baseball’s new stadium regulations were scheduled to go into effect in 2025 has presented another challenge for numerous minor league facilities. A larger visitor’s clubhouse, greater training facilities, better stadium lighting, and more rooms for food preparation and dining were among these demands. New changing rooms for female employees are also necessary.
Windham countered that Trustmark Park had already put all of those standards into effect.
The Columbus Council approved a lease with Diamond Baseball Holdings to bring a minor league team back to Golden Park by a vote of 6-3, according to the Ledger Enquirer in Columbus, Georgia. This implies that in order to bring the 1920s ballpark up to minor league standards, the city will issue bonds for up to $50 million. The 20-year lease with five-year options for renewal was authorized by the lease council.
At best, Pearl’s Trustmark Park has seen dismal attendance for Braves games. Ball Park Digest reports that the Braves had 2,545 people per game in 2023, which ranked them 29th out of 30 Double-A teams in terms of attendance. With 2,440 fans per game in 2023, only the Milwaukee Brewers Double-A affiliate, the Biloxi Shuckers, had fewer fans per game.