Media release from the Rome Emperors:
The Rome Emperors, in conjunction with the Atlanta Braves, on Tuesday announced their 2025 coaching staff, which includes former Manager Angel Flores and longtime assistant Bobby Moore.
Angel Flores
“Flo” returns to Rome for his second stint as Manager of Atlanta’s High-A affiliate. It’ll be his third stay in the city of seven hills and three rivers, dating all the way back to the 2021 season when he served as a catching coach and assistant under Kanekoa Texeira, who he would replace as Manager in 2023. The 2023 season, Flores’ first in a managerial role, would see the Rome Braves go 64-68, finishing 6.0 games back of First-Half Champion Greenville and 10.0 games back of Second-Half Champion Hickory.
Both Flores and Texeira would receive promotions in the 2023-24 offseason, with “Tex” making the jump to Triple-A Gwinnett to manage the Stripers and Flores once again succeeding him, this time in Pearl, Mississippi. The M-Braves finished 2024 with a record of 63-73, 16.5 games back of Montgomery in a talent-infested Southern League.
Flores, 38, was drafted out of Petra Corretser High School in Manati, Puerto Rico, in the 46th round of the 2003 MLB June Amateur Draft by the Florida Marlins. After a six-year minor league career in the Detroit Tigers organization, he would transition over to Indy Ball and play six seasons with seven different teams. In 2017, Flores was hired by the Atlanta Braves organization and spent his first few seasons developing younger players in the rookie leagues.
Angel and his wife Carmen have two sons, Misael (2) and Matias (6).
Bobby Moore
2025 will be Coach Bobby Moore’s 28th season in the Atlanta Braves farm system. The former Kansas City Royals outfielder is now a household name in Rome, as he has now been a member of the coaching staff for the majority of the team’s 21-year reign here. Some of Moore’s prior organizations include the Eugene Emeralds, Greenville Braves, and Macon Braves.
After being taken in the 29th round out of Purcell Marion High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, Moore chose to attend Eastern Kentucky University, where he is now a Baseball Hall of Fame Inductee. A 16th-round pick by the Royals in 1987, Moore would make his MLB debut a little over four years later in September of 1991 against the Chicago White Sox.
Bobby and his wife, Jane, live in Rome. His oldest son, Chaz, is a freshman outfielder for the Division III Berry College Vikings.
Horacio Ramirez
The Atlanta Braves drafted Ramirez in the fifth round (172nd overall) of the 1997 MLB Draft out of Inglewood High School in Inglewood, California. The left-handed pitcher would make a stop at each of the Braves’ six affiliate clubs, including the 2006 Rome Braves, before making his MLB debut with Atlanta on April 2nd, 2003, against the Montreal Expos. Across four seasons with the Braves, Ramirez would go 30-22 and sport a 4.13 ERA before being dealt to the Seattle Mariners in December of 2006 for reliever Rafael Soriano.
Ramirez would go on to pitch for the Royals, White Sox, and Angels at the big-league level before being hired as a coaching assistant for the Braves in 2014. Since then, Ramirez has most notably served as a pitching coach for Team Mexico in the 2023 World Baseball Classic and a bullpen coach for the Florida Complex League Braves in 2024.
Connor Justus
Cartersville, Georgia native Connor Justus makes the leap from Single-A Augusta to High-A Rome in 2025 and will be the team’s hitting coach. Justus returns to the city where his college coaching career began when he was an assistant under David Beasley at Berry College in 2023.
Justus was a Third Team All-ACC shortstop in his final year at Georgia Tech, where he started in every one of his three seasons (2014-16). The Los Angeles Angels selected Justus in the fifth round of the 2016 MLB First Year Player Draft and employed him through the 2019 minor league season. He would retire from professional baseball in July of 2022 after a little over a year in the Miami Marlins system, reaching as high as Triple-A Jacksonville in his final season.
Julian Rip
The Dutchman is back for his second consecutive season as Emperors’ Strength and Conditioning Coach. Rip majored in exercise science and was a standout student-athlete at USC Upstate, where he played baseball. The Vianen, Netherlands, native has been with the Braves organization since 2023.
Tom Adams
Adams enters his fourth season as a Minor league Athletic trainer with the Atlanta Braves. This marks his third different stop along the way. He’s spent time in North Port with the Complex League Braves and in Augusta with the GreenJackets.
Cody Starkey will serve as the team’s Clubhouse Manager for the 2025 season.
