Braves shockingly decide to move on from Kelsey Wingert

On what’s been a pretty slow news day for Atlanta sports thanks to the NBA All-Star break and the Falcons offseason, here’s one story every Braves fan will want to hear. Popular sideline or on-field reporter, Kelsey Wingert, will not be returning for the 2020 season, according to David O’Brien of The Athletic, who broke the story.

Wingert, now 27, has been a member of the Braves broadcast crew since she was just 23 after graduating from LSU (which I also happen to be an alumnus of, so this news is especially disturbing to me). Now, I’m not familiar with the on-field reporters for the other 31 teams like I am the Braves, but to me, she always seemed to be one of the best at her job. I always feared that someday a national network like ESPN would steal her from us. I still believe that’s in her future, which is why this news is so shocking. On top of that, a little over a month ago, it was announced that the Braves would be making no changes to their broadcast team.

According to O’Brien and several others, the decision to move on from Wingert was determined by the Braves, not Fox Sports. Wingert declined to comment to The Athletic, which tells me this isn’t something she expected. It’s not yet known who will be taking her place as a member of the broadcast team. I’m not one to normally speculate how someone is feeling, but I think all of Braves Country would like to say — Thank you, Kelsey — for being apart of our lives over the last four years, and we wish you nothing but the best in your future endeavors that are sure to be even more spectacular.

Update: David O’Brien has been told that while the Braves have final say of who is in the booth, they do not have final say over the sideline reporters. Obviously, the team has a tremendous amount of influence, but this could have been a decision by Fox after all.