Rick Kranitz

{{Short description|American baseball pitching coach for the Atlanta Braves (born 1958)}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

| name =Rick Kranitz

| image =Rickkranitzbrewers.tif

| width =250

| caption =Kranit as pitching coach for the Milwaukee Brewers

| team =Atlanta Braves

| number =39

| position =Pitching coach

| birth_date ={{Birth date and age|1958|9|15}}

| birth_place=San Rafael, California, U.S.

| bats =

| throws =

| teams =

As Coach

Chicago Cubs ({{mlby|2002}})
Florida Marlins ({{mlby|2006}}–{{mlby|2007}})
Baltimore Orioles ({{mlby|2008}}–{{mlby|2010}})
Milwaukee Brewers ({{mlby|2011}}–{{mlby|2015}})
Philadelphia Phillies ({{mlby|2016}}–{{mlby|2018}})
Atlanta Braves ({{mlby|2019}}–present)

|awards=

World Series champion (2021)

}}

Richard Alan Kranitz (born September 15, 1958) is an American professional baseball coach for the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB). Previously, he served as the pitching coach for the Baltimore Orioles, Milwaukee Brewers, Florida Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies.

Playing career

Kranitz attended Apollo High School in Glendale, Arizona. He went to Yavapai College and Oklahoma State University.

Kranitz was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the fourth round (101st overall) of the 1979 Major League Baseball draft.{{Cite web |title=4th Round of the 1979 MLB June Amateur Draft |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?year_ID=1979&draft_round=4&draft_type=junreg&query_type=year_round |access-date=June 29, 2022 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}} He pitched in the minor leagues from 1979 through 1985 without making the majors.

Coaching career

File:Rick Kranitz on June 16, 2009 (cropped).jpg]]

Kranitz served as a player-coach with the Pikeville Cubs in 1984 and the Winston-Salem Spirits in 1985, though he pitched a total of three innings in those seasons. He served as a minor league pitching coach, Minor League Pitching Coordinator and an assistant coach for the Cubs organization through 2001, when he was named the bullpen coach for the 2002 season. Kranitz managed the Daytona Cubs in 2003 and served as the pitching coach for the Iowa Cubs in 2004 and 2005.

Kranitz was named the pitching coach for the Florida Marlins in 2006. He was named Baseball America's 2006 Major League Coach of the Year in his first year as pitching coach for the Marlins.{{Cite web |last=Berardino |first=Mike |date=December 19, 2006 |title=Major League Coach Of The Year: Rick Kranitz |url=http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/majors/features/262963.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926234851/http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/majors/features/262963.html |archive-date=September 26, 2007 |access-date=September 26, 2007 |website=Baseball America}} Kranitz remained with the Marlins in 2007, but resigned shortly before the end of the season.http://www.kirotv.com/mlb/14193176/detail.html {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}

In 2008, Kranitz became the pitching coach for the Baltimore Orioles.{{Cite web |last=Fordin |first=Spencer |date=October 17, 2007 |title=Orioles name Kranitz pitching coach |url=http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071017&content_id=2270328&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018222414/http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071017&content_id=2270328&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb |archive-date=October 18, 2007 |access-date=October 18, 2007 |website=MLB.com |publisher=MLB Advanced Media}} There, he struggled to find the same success as in Florida; in 2008 and 2009 the Orioles' pitching staff posted team ERAs of 5.13 and 5.15, respectively. In 2010, although the end-of-year numbers were much more respectable, the team was doomed by a historically futile start that saw them win only 34 of their first 105 games.

On November 1, 2010, Kranitz accepted an offer from the Houston Astros to become their minor league pitching coordinator.{{Cite web |last=McTaggart |first=Brian |date=November 1, 2010 |title=Astros hire Kranitz, Sedar to Minor League jobs |url=http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20101101&content_id=15948574&vkey=news_hou&c_id=hou |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101104091115/http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20101101&content_id=15948574&vkey=news_hou&c_id=hou |archive-date=November 4, 2010 |access-date=November 4, 2010 |website=Houston Astros |publisher=MLB.com}}{{Cite web |last=Connolly |first=Dan |date=November 1, 2010 |title=Kranitz named Astros' minor league pitching coordinator |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-xpm-2010-11-01-bs-sp-orioles-kranitz-1102-20101101-story.html |access-date=November 1, 2010 |website=The Baltimore Sun}}

On November 15, 2010, it was announced that Kranitz would be replacing Rick Peterson as pitching coach for the Milwaukee Brewers.{{Cite web |last=Gleeman |first=Aaron |date=November 15, 2010 |title=Brewers hire Rick Kranitz to replace Rick Peterson as pitching coach |url=https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2010/11/15/brewers-hire-rick-kranitz-to-replace-rick-peterson-as-pitching-coach/ |access-date=June 29, 2022 |website=NBC Sports |language=en-US}} He was dismissed after the 2015 season.{{Cite web |last=Gleeman |first=Aaron |date=October 5, 2015 |title=Brewers fire pitching coach Rick Kranitz |url=https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2015/10/05/brewers-fire-pitching-coach-rick-kranitz/ |access-date=June 29, 2022 |website=NBC Sports |language=en-US}}

Kranitz became the bullpen coach for the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2016 season, and was promoted to pitching coach for the 2018 season. Kranitz was fired by the Phillies shortly after the 2018 season.{{Cite web |date=November 14, 2018 |title=Phillies make a change at pitching coach |url=https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/phillies/phillies-promote-chris-young-replace-rick-kranitz-pitching-coach |access-date=December 4, 2018 |website=NBC Sports Philadelphia}}

The Atlanta Braves announced on December 6, 2018, that Kranitz had joined manager Brian Snitker's staff.{{cite news |last1=Bowman |first1=Mark |date=December 4, 2018 |title=Braves name Kranitz pitching coach |work=Atlanta Braves |publisher=MLB.com |url=https://www.mlb.com/braves/news/rick-kranitz-named-braves-pitching-coach/c-301428286 |access-date=December 6, 2018}}

Kranitz won the World Series with the Atlanta Braves on November 2, 2021.{{Cite web |last=Viola |first=Tommy |date=November 5, 2021 |title=Flashback Fridays: Kranitz Earns Championship |url=https://www.milb.com/news/flashback-fridays-kranitz-earns-championship |access-date=June 29, 2022 |website=Minor League Baseball |language=en}}