Braves Give Brian Snitker Much Deserved Extension

While maybe it wasn’t the contract extension news we’ve been waiting for, the Atlanta Braves did announce a pretty big extension on Friday. 

Brian Snitker is the Atlanta Braves having been in the organization for 45 years. On Friday, the Atlanta Braves made sure he spends the rest of his career here by extending him through at least the 2023 season.

That will pretty much take him up to his 70th birthday. And while it’s possible he’ll want to continue coaching past that point, I could see him calling it a career once this contract is up.

And I highly doubt he would ever coach for another organization at this point.

Brian Snitker was named the NL Manager of the Year in 2018 when Atlanta shocked everybody by winning the division. And honestly, you could have given him the award the past two seasons as well with the Braves continually exceeding expectations and winning the NL East.

I haven’t always been a fan of Snitker’s in-game decision-making — although every fanbase would likely complain about the same thing.

But the guys love playing for him and that’s very important.

I love the emotion that Snitker shows for his players and just how much he enjoys coaching this team, and I know he wants them to succeed both individually and as a team.

Sure, he doesn’t argue and get thrown out as much as we’d like, but with replay, you just don’t get much of that these days.

You can’t deny that he loves his players though and will go to bat for every single one of them. He was the one out on the field at Jose Urena’s neck whenever that sorry excuse for a pitcher plunked Ronald Acuna Jr. on purpose.

With Snitker now the manager for at least the next three seasons, he’ll be leading the Braves through their prime contention window.

That raises the question of whether or not he’s the type of manager that can lead a team to a World Series championship.

There really haven’t been any moves he’s made in the postseason that stick out to me as being horrible.

He couldn’t predict Chris Martin getting hurt while warming up in Game 1 on the 2019 NLDS. That really just messed up everything in the bullpen for that game and the series.

I didn’t agree with the decision to pull Mike Foltynewicz in Game 2 of the 2019 NLDS, but that was ultimately the correct move after Adam Duvall put that game on ice with a two-run home run when he pinch-hit for Folty.

And I can’t think of anything in this past postseason that really cost the Braves. He did a great job of piecing together a starting rotation that was beaten up and inexperienced.

So yes, I do believe that with the talent this team has, he’s a manager that will let that talent play out and put them in a position to win a World Series over the next three-to-four years.