Baltimore Orioles: Dom Chiti leaves Orioles for Braves after not receiving new offer
The departure of bullpen coach Dom Chiti surprised many in the Baltimore Orioles organization. Which means along with finding a new pitching coach, finding a new bullpen coach is on their “to do” list
No one was surprised when pitching coach Dave Wallace, who managed pitching staffs such as the Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers, left the Baltimore Orioles following the 2016 season. However, Dom Chiti was expecting the Orioles to extend him an offer.
When the team didn’t, Chiti accepted a developmental position with the Atlanta Braves. It wasn’t that Chiti wanted to leave the organization; the Orioles didn’t seem interested in renewing his contract right away, so he had to think of other options. He wanted to be with the Orioles for the 2017 season. But a call from the president of baseball operations John Hart came the day after Chiti’s contract expired, which changed the entire scenario.
Chiti and Wallace will still work together next year, but for a different organization.
Despite leaving the organization, Chiti recognizes the Orioles players as his ‘sons’ and manager Buck Showalter as his ‘brother’, indicating there were no hard feelings.
Chiti said the following to the Baltimore Sun after announcing his departure:
“The three years I spent in Baltimore will always be cherished, and they’ll be cherished from the opportunity to work with Buck, who I consider to be one of the best managers in the game, and also the opportunity to work with a lot of pitchers who were very special. They weren’t just special as pitchers, but they were special as humans and people, and they were good people. Those are the things I’ll always take away, and I’ll go away having a lot of respect for those guys. They know I love them.”
Closer Zach Britton expressed disappointment that the Orioles refused to negotiate with Chiti over a new contract. Nevertheless, he’s excited that Chiti has a new opportunity with the Atlanta Braves.
“I’ve been in contact with him quite a bit and I know he wanted to come back. Atlanta offered him a good opportunity and, you know, before he made his decision, he called me and said, ‘Hey, this isn’t a reflection on you. I want to be back working with you.’ I know how he feels about me and vice versa. I think the job he did with me, along with Wally, you can just kind of see where I was before I got to work with them and then where I’m at now. So, I think that just speaks to the kind of coaches they are.”
Buck Showalter had plans to retain Chiti for next season. The front office thought otherwise.
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Now Chiti will report to Spring Training with the Braves instead of the Orioles.
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