Atlanta Braves management talks young talent at hot stove event

Each January, the Rome hot stove gathering serves as a convenient time to have a lot of Braves front office and field staff behind a microphone together.

This year, the 16th annual Hot Stove Gathering in Rome brought some of the Atlanta Braves front office and field staff to the home of the organization’s low single-A affiliate Monday night.

The event that featured Atlanta manager Brian Snitker, new general manager Alex Anthopoulos and new assistant GM Perry Minasian, among others. Youth and optimism were recurring themes during a press conference preceding the annual gathering of fans for autographs and photo ops.

The New GM

Anthopoulos discussed the state of the team’s rebuild and how the farm system played into his interest in the Atlanta GM position. “It was a huge perk, a huge advantage,“ he said. “It certainly helps.. I just stepped into a great spot. We just want to try to add to it.”  

Taking over at Atlanta’s general manager after the recent foreign market scandal, Anthopoulos still made sure to pay homage to the groundwork he walked into. “I view it as one of the best jobs in sports, for a lot of reasons,” Anthopoulos said. “The city, the community. The players certainly didn’t hurt at all at the big league level, or at the minor league level and that’s a credit to everybody who’s been here.”

Acknowledging that Braves fans have “put up with a lot” in recent years, Anthopoulos made it clear the rebuild is moving forward on his watch. “There’s been down time. It was understandably so. There was going to be a rebuild, there was going to be young players and it was by design. Now we’re getting ready to move it forward.”

The Manager

Braves manager Brian Snitker spoke optimistically about moving forward in the late stages of the rebuilding process. “We’re excited about the young guys we’re bringing to camp this year. We’ve been hearing about all these guys. Now they’ve burst on to the scene,” Snitker said. 

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A long-time organization veteran, Snitker had some comparisons to make with where the Braves are now to a time in the past. “To me, it mirrors what happened a bunch of years ago before we started that run, I mean it’s happened the same way through the development of the farm system and adding from without,” Snitker said.”

Though optimistic, Snitker did admit the process isn’t yet finished. “We’re not there yet, but we’re excited about bringing up our young players,” the Atlanta manager said. “The ones we watched last year, I think they got some invaluable experience playing in the major leagues. So there’s going to be a lot of guys come in, some of our young players and pitchers that are going to have a leg up on things. It’s an exciting time right now to be an Atlanta Brave.”

Snitker had a lot to say about one Atlanta call up in particular from the 2017 season, Ozzie Albies. “I’m really looking forward to watching him play. I was looking forward to him when we got him last year,” Snitker said. “I wanted him to come sooner than what he did, and he didn’t disappoint. He came up, he did a great job. He slowed the game down really well, he made some adjustments offensively as he saw he needed to when he got there. The kid’s got an unbelievable skill set and he’s going to be an exciting player for us. We’re really excited about him and it was great to come up and get the experience when he did.”

Fresh off his first Chopfest weekend, Anthopoulos said the Braves fans he met were supportive and optimistic. He also spoke of his reverence for this history of success in Atlanta. “There’s a great tradition, passion and following for this team and this organization. It’s been built on those great glory years. Bobby Cox, John Schuerholz.  They’re the reason we are the world standard and why we’ve gotten to this point.”

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Anthopoulos had plenty of praise for Braves Country from his own front office to throughout the Atlanta fanbase, saying “there’s just a warmth. You feel like you’re family the minute you walk in the door.”