Despite a roster stripped of stars through injury, including the 2023 NL MVP and last year’s only 20-game winner and Cy Young favorite, Brian Snitker has the Atlanta Braves on the doorstep of their seventh consecutive postseason and should win NL Manager of the Year. Of course, the loudest Twitter-critters disagree.
The Braves under Brian Snitker are nothing but missed opportunities. 4 NLDS losses, missing the playoffs after being projected the most wins in baseball, a million games lost because he can’t manage a bullpen. He has not once taken responsibility for any of this shit
That evaluation ignores so much it’s impossible to address, but there’s no doubt that Snitker kept a team that could easily have been a .500 club in striking distance of the playoffs.
Slump and injuries created roster chaos, but the Braves are knocking on the door again anyways
It didn’t take long for things to begin to go wrong. Seven innings into the first game, Sean Murphy left the game and didn’t return for two months. A week later, Spencer Strider’s UCL gave up, and a battery the team planned to lean on was gone; then things got worse. By the middle of May, Snitker may have made his first stop every morning the trainer's office for a damage report.
On April 16, Ozzie Albies went on the IL with a broken toe and missed ten days.
On May 13, Austin Riley went on the IL with a strained oblique and missed 14 days. Zack Short and Luke Williams took over at third.
On May 25, Ronald Acuña Jr. suffered a torn ACL in his left knee, ending his season.
On June 6, Michael Harris II strained his left hamstring and didn’t return until August 14.
On July 21, Max Fried went on the 15-day IL with a left forearm strain.
On July 22, A fastball hit Albies and fractured his left wrist, forcing him onto the IL for 58 days.
On August 5, Reynaldo Lopez went on the 15-day IL with a right forearm strain.
On August 20, a fastball hit Riley’s wrist, breaking it and ending his season.
On September 11, Lopez went on the IL with a right should strain. If all goes well, he’ll return on September 29.
Even the best farm system in the league can’t adequately replace that level of talent. To make things worse, the rest of the team was in a slump. Without the heroics of Marcell Ozuna, the Braves would find themselves fighting with the Nationals for third place…or worse.
Offense, what offense?
After having the NL’s third-ranked offense in April, the team’s .772 OPS dropped 100 points in May, sank to 14th in May, and remained 30 points below the league until August.
Jarred Kelenic’s bat vanished; he is what he was in Seattle, a glove-first fourth outfielder. Adam Duvall proved once again he was past his peak two years ago. Sean Murphy hasn’t hit at all, and like Kelenic, Orlando Arcia is what he’s always been, a glove-first bench bat on a good team.
Matt Olson had an awful start but recovered after the All-Star break, but it took the addition of three players designated for assignment at least once this season - Ramon Laureano, Gio Urshela, and Whit Merrifield, and the return of Harris that the offense became a thing again.
The offense ranks
Eight in the NL with 101 wRC+ - every challenging team and the Cubs are higher – and 16th in MLB, tied with Oakland.
Seventh in the NL with a .315 wOBA – every challenging team is higher – and 12th in MLB, behind the Twins.
Twitter-critters screamed that Brian Snitker shouldn’t have played the slumping players, never mind that he had no one else to play, and managed to win a higher percentage (.706 W’/L%, 12-5) of extra innings games than every NL team except the Padres.
When the Atlanta Braves lost starting pitcher Spencer Strider many wondered how the team would overcome it. / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
Braves' pitching is really good when healthy
When Strider went down, and Max Fried struggled early, and Charlie Morton pitched like a fifth starter, Chris Sale and Reynaldo Lopez said, “We got you.”
Spencer Schwellenbach arrived May 29, had a half dozen difficult starts, then found his footing. Since July 6, his 2.65 ERA is 12th in MLB and 10 in the NL, and he’s proven himself in big-game situations.
The Braves used seven other starters to fill the gaps in the rotation and give Sale and Lopez an extra day of rest. Twitter-critter managers screamed that he was using the wrong starter anytime the game did go well and were particularly offended when Snitker sent Grant Holmes to the bump. They were wrong.
Holmes was more dependable and versatile than any of the Braves' minor league options. Sale is rested, Lopez will return soon, and Schwellenbach is a dude.
A healthy Braves’ bullpen is superb!
The Braves' bullpen is healthy, and keeping them healthy means not using them every day until their arms fall off. There were times I cringed when Jesse Chavez, and particularly Luke Jackson, went into a game and probably tweeted about it.
Maybe a different pitcher creates a different result in one game but isn’t ready in a bigger game against a contender, and the loss creates a one-game swing instead of a half-game. Maybe he goes in tired and hurts his arm or pulls a hammy.
Dylan Lee, Joe Jiménez, Pierce Johnson, and Raisel Iglesias have been nails in September because they’re healthy and rested.
That’s a wrap
No team lost the same quantity and quality of everyday players to injury as the Braves; at least 70 homers were lost, and outfield defense was missing two of the league's best. Injuries forced Brian Snitker to send out four to five role-players in starting lineups that were offensively and defensively challenged for most of the season.
The lineup’s defensive efficiency was tenth in the league, making it harder for ground ball pitchers to get outs. Our pitchers held opposing teams to a league-best 3.78 runs a game, allowing the team to stay in and win games with a lineup that averaged only 4.38 runs a game. They were able to do that because they were healthy and rested.
While armchair managers believe they could do better, unbiased observers understand the job Brian Snitker has done this year.
Frankly, he did so little for so long that he can almost do anything with nothing. Perheps some observers will be right and Snitker will retire after this season. Whatever he decides, he’s given the team a chance at the gold ring again and should be NL Manager of the Year.
