Atlanta Braves: Is Brian Snitker The Leader For The Future?

Manager Brian Snitker returns in 2018 on a one year contract. Among other questions with a young roster, questions remain if Snitker is the leader needed to win.

We are right at two weeks away from the Atlanta Braves taking the field for the opening of Spring Training games (still have never been and incredibly jealous of those who do). Pitchers and Catchers report on Tuesday. The baseball season is ready to be birthed. That said, there are all kinds of questions about what to expect from Atlanta. Those roster questions will be dissected in these pages, over the next few weeks, over and over. One question, though, that remains is what about Manager Brian Snitker. Is he really the dude the Braves need to usher in winning ways again?

By all accounts, Snitker was a breath of fresh air after the absolutely contemptuous and disgraceful erosion of our beloved Braves under Fredi Gonzalez. I’m not going to soften words here. He was awful. He and Frank Wren took a team culture of winning that had permeated the DNA of a franchise and rung it out with complacency and excuse making. Platitudes supplanted performance and clichés replaced accountability.

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When Snitker came in after a (9-28) start in 2016, he at least sounded like he knew what he was doing. And the club responded. They were bad, but they played hard and got better as the year went along. The players clearly like him.

Last year didn’t really answer any of the questions surrounding Snitker, because the team is still trying to emerge from the haunted forest of mega contracts to players no longer here.

The Front Office had a major scandal last year, firing the GM in the process, so bringing back Snitker was a no-brainer. The one year contract was probably wise, as well, with new GM Alex Anthopoulos in place, and looking to put his stamp on the team.

So, is Snitker the guy? Who knows? There is no way to tell. With the roster still in flux, it is impossible to know whether Brian Snitker can lead a Major League Baseball team successfully, assuming he has the tools. It’s like asking if a contractor can build a house with a hammer and a few nails. Probably not with that to work with.

This year will be interesting for a whole host of reasons. 3rd Base? Pitching? Acuna? Albies? Swanson? Freeman as MVP? No one knows. No one really has a good idea, except that Freeman will be good.

What we do know about Brian Snitker is that he’s given the Braves 41 years, and to do that with one organization, somebody likes you. We know that he doesn’t make excuses. We know that players play for him. We know those things.

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But we still don’t know what kind of Manager he’d be with a full compliment of capable and competitive players. Maybe 2018 will begin answer those questions starting on Tuesday.

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