When the Atlanta Braves dismissed former general manager Frank Wren from his duties last September, the organization decided not to fill that role. Instead, they hired John Hart to be their president of baseball operations and kept John Coppolella as the assistant GM.

Despite the title of assistant general manager, Coppolella performed many of the day-to-day duties a full time GM would, and because of that the Braves decided to reward him and change his title.

The Braves will formally announce this decision Thursday afternoon with a press conference. John Hart will continue to oversee and have a more waited impact on the direction of the team, but Coppolella will continue to see through with the duties of a full time general manager.

Even though John Hart received praise and or criticism when it came to the slew of blockbuster trades the Braves made in the offseason, it was John Coppolella who did plenty of the heavy lifting. The two John’s worked simultaneously to rebuild Atlanta’s depleted farm system, and they had to make some tough trades as they shipped out fan favorites like Jason Heyward, Craig Kimbrel, Evan Gattis and Justin Upton.

Coppolella, 37, seemed to be a hot commodity as the Milwaukee Brewers and Seattle Mariners expressed interest in his services last month as they searched for their general manager. Both teams went in a different direction but the Braves probably took notice of the attention he was garnering around the league and decided to pull the trigger with a promotion.

This is his ninth season with the organization, but started his career as an intern with the New York Yankees at the age of 21. After spending time with the Yankees from 2000-2006, Coppolella would go to Atlanta and spend time as director of baseball operations from 2006-2010. He would quickly be promoted to director of professional scouting in 2011, and then be named the assistant GM under Frank Wren in 2012.

In the end, the direction and chain of command won’t change much in Atlanta, but there is no doubt the hard-working Coppolella deserves the promotion and title of Atlanta Braves general manager.