Atlanta Braves Top Franchise Managers: #4 – Brian Snitker
By Fred Owens
Atlanta Braves bench coach
In 2006 the Atlanta Braves lost Fredi González to the Marlins, and after 17 years in the wilderness, asked Snitker if he’d like to join Bobby Cox to coach third base. Two years later, Cox retired, and González took over, but this time Snitker remained.
After the Braves reached the 2013 playoffs while Craig Kimbrel stood amazed in the bullpen, Frank Wren told the coaches everyone would stay, but there might be a few tweaks.
I’m the Tweak
Two days later, Wren called Snitker at home and asked him to come to the ballpark. He told Sports Illustrated’s Chris Ballard that Wren made the offer to manage AAA Gwinnett sound like an opportunity, but it felt like a slap to Snitker.
". . . he couldn’t retire. He hadn’t made enough and didn’t qualify for the full pension from MLB. And, since all he’d ever done was play or coach baseball, he had no fallback career. “If I was young, I’d have told them to shove it,” says Snitker. That fall, he and Ronnie returned to the minor league life."
Long time friend Greg Walker told Ballard he thought moving to Gwinnett was the end.
"“He was getting older. It’s kind of like going back to Triple A as a player. I figured that was the end.”"
Snitker went back to doing what he’d done for the Atlanta Braves since 1981, grooming players for the Major League roster.
On May 16, 2016, GM John Coppolella called Snitker and told him they were firing González and asked if he would like to manage the Atlanta Braves.
Finally, Atlanta Braves Manager
On May 17, Brian Snitker became the second oldest rookie manager in the history of the Major Leagues. They finished the season 59-65, a great turnaround considering the roster and the team’s awful start to the year. Snitker was sure the interim tag meant they’d replace him.
Atlanta Braves’ players felt strongly he should stay. Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis went to Coppolella’s office and told him so. We have no way of knowing what led them to choose Snitker over Bud Black, and it wasn’t a unanimous choice.
Perhaps they felt that Snitker’s talent in player development was what the team needed with a roster soon to have a group of rookies on board, and gave him a one-year deal to turn the team into major leaguers.
The following year Coppolella and Hart were suddenly gone, and a new analytics-driven GM arrived. It was widely believed Anthopoulos would bring in his own man to manage. Then the team that finished 72-90 in 2017 reversed those numbers, won the NL East, and Snitker was named Manager of the Year.