Brian Snitker has had a huge impact on this Atlanta Braves team.
The lifelong Atlanta Braves guy will finally get his chance to lead the Braves on the biggest stage of them all.
The guy who has seemingly done it all with the Atlanta Braves will be the head honcho over the team while it competes in the 2021 World Series against the Houston Astros.
Of course we are talking about Brian Snitker, the Atlanta Braves manager.
Thinking back on all the things he has done throughout his career, Tuesday night, he will be able to do something he has never done before: fill out an Atlanta Braves lineup card with a World Series at stake.
Obviously, he has been around the team before in some capacity while it played in the fall classic. Most people do not need reminding that he has been with the Atlanta Braves organization since 1977.
Think about all the highs and lows he has seen whether it be the disaster that was the 1980’s for the Atlanta Braves or the team of the 90’s he saw. All the way through former manager Bobby Cox‘s final days and the subsequent rebuild only to be tabbed with the job of leading the on-field team when it was time to compete again.
And here we are.
So far this October he has pushed all the right buttons (more on that in just a little bit), and he has as big a hand over the Braves advancing to the World Series just as much as the players that have propelled us such as Rosario and Matzek.
Thus far, Snitker has played this chess game known as October baseball just as well as anyone and it is showing so far.
To add on top of all of that, how appropriate would it be for the Atlanta Braves to win the World Series during the year where we lost Hank Aaron, where after all, it was Hank Aaron’s recommendation to Brian Snitker to become a coach and stay in the game of baseball.
The Atlanta Braves in this year of the survivors
It feels like every year, October baseball becomes more challenging to predict due to the ever changing nature of the game. This October has been no exception and the evolution of the bullpen’s and short leashes for starters has been rampant.
Sure, Snitker has joined in on the movement but it feels like his leash is still a little longer than most everyone else’s has been.
Some would say he left Charlie Morton in too long for game one of the division series, but at the time who could blame him because the bullpen had been sub-par all season long. No one knew that Tyler Matzek and Will Smith were about to become the next dominant bullpen duo.
It did indeed feel like he evolved after that game though, because then he adjusted on the fly and it’s worked out perfectly.
After all, it might be Brian Snitker’s managing choice during game 6 of the NLCS against the Dodgers that is the biggest reason why we are heading to the fall classic.
It was only the fourth inning and Ian Anderson was seemingly rolling along to a good start, but feeling his team needed an offensive spark, Snitker decided to pinch-hit for him in the bottom of the fourth with Ehire Adrianza.
Obviously, we now know what Adrianza did and what Rosario would eventually do the next at-bat. Little things like that are the difference maker this time of the year.
All in the Family
It has already been well documented but either way, the Snitker family will have a World Series winning member of the family.
How cool it must be for Brian to face off with his son, Troy, who is a hitting coach for the Houston Astros.
This is the kind of stuff books or movies are made about.
Yet it is a reality for the Snitker family. No offense to the younger member, but we here hope the elder statesman gets the nod in the matchup this go around.
Perhaps it is true you get wiser as you get older as this will feature the oldest combined age of managers in World Series history when you look at both Brian Snitker and Astros manager Dusty Baker.
The bottom line is Brian Snitker was the perfect choice looking back on it for the Atlanta Braves to tag in when they needed a fresh new voice in the clubhouse to lead the team.
Widely known as a player first manager, he has taken the mold of his mentor Bobby Cox and just polished it in some areas and the boys seem to love playing for him.
After all, it is widely known that it was Freddie Freeman who all but demanded that Snitker stay on as the Atlanta Braves manager.
Next. Don't wake us up. dark
As we enter this last week of baseball no matter what, let’s hope that decision pays off for both of them and they both have one last 2021 celebration left in them next week.