Before this week, the list of managers to take the Atlanta-era Braves to the Fall Classic numbered one. (Bobby Cox) But now this unassuming, baseball lifer just achieved what seemed impossible less than 30 days ago.
Which is the reason for this discussion regarding the announcement of the 2021 MLB awards this week, awards such as Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, etc. No Atlanta Brave player or manager won or was even in serious consideration for in any of the awards given out this year despite the team winning the World Series. Which begs the question, why did Brian Snitker not warrant more consideration for NL Manager of the Year?
The quick and easy answer: Because all these awards are voted on before the post-season started. Out of the 52 ESPN Baseball "experts" who voiced their opinion about the MLB post-season, guess how many of these talking heads picked the Braves to win the world series. One.
Winning prognosticator: Matthew Stupienski (ESPN Statistician) Throw yourself a parade Matthew!
I mean look at some of the moves that Snitker made, just in the 2021 postseason. In a tied NCLS Game 6 against the Dodgers, Snitker pinch-hit for starting pitcher Ian Anderson – who’d only allowed one run – in the fourth inning. Ehire Adrianza’s broken-bat double put two on with two out. Then Eddie Rosario hit the home run that sent the Braves to the World Series.
On Friday night, in the World Series against the Houston Astros, with the Braves leading 1-0 and Anderson having completed five no-hit innings, Snitker did it again. He’d seen Anderson throw 76 pitches, with almost as many balls as strikes. (Astros manager Dusty Baker described him later as “effectively wild.”) Even with bullpen games awaiting on Saturday and Sunday, Snitker seized the moment at hand. AJ Minter, Luke Jackson, Tyler Matzek and Will Smith each worked his designated inning. And the Braves won 2-0.
This is a team that after losing one of the top five players in baseball to injury, Ronald Acuna, as well as three of their starting pitchers and two of their starting outfielders, still ended up holding the trophy awarded to the World Champions in baseball. Are you telling me that doesn't warrant a manager of the year vote?
And don't forget that midway through the season the Atlanta front office requested that Snitker reconsider his reluctance to embrace defensive shifting based on analytic recommendations. To his credit, at age 66, he listened and then gradually started implementing those suggestions, to the point that by the time the postseason arrived the Braves were defensively shifting on 55% of the batters they faced. And he was making these fundamental changes to the way he managed while also juggling a lineup card minus five starters and then assimilating three new players into the team that ended up playing major roles in the Braves winning the World Series.
This marks the Braves’ fourth consecutive playoff run under Snitker. They’ve grown up under his stewardship. They’re have just won the first World Series title in Atlanta since 1995. In previous Octobers, Snitker was guarded. He has showed more emotion this time, these up-from-oblivion Braves having become his favorite of the bunch.
But none of this was obvious at the close of the regular season. The Braves were still playing under .500 ball in August! No one dreamed that they would get hot and make a postseason run, and it was almost beyond the realm of possibility that they could win the whole thing! And that is why despite the almost heroic job that Snitker did just to hold the team together, no one thought they would go far in the postseason, most never dreamed they would even make the postseason. So all of that regular season work was buried under a mediocre record of wins and losses and the work that he exhibited on a world stage was too late to make an impact on any of the voters minds for this year.
Now I would bet that Snitker is okay with winning the World Series trophy versus the Manager of the Year honor. He comes across as way too humble to put more stock in individual accolades versus team achievements. But I do think that this whole process has shined a light on a flawed system, at least when it comes to the manager of the year awards.
I would submit that perhaps voters should be able to consider the postseason as part of the resume before placing their vote for manager of the year. The moves that a manager makes in the postseason are greatly amplified on that bigger stage, and I would argue that the positive and negatives of a manager is easily more discernable in the playoffs versus the regular season. But for now, the system is the way it is, flawed and incapable of accurately judging the jobs of the managers who continue on into the postseason.
So to recap, in 2016, Snitker was managing Triple-A Gwinnett. He was 60. He’d never been seriously considered to manage the Braves. He is promoted in 2017 and has led the Braves to four straight postseason appearances and one world championship. Sounds like an elite job of managing to me.
But for now, he will just have to settle for being known as the manager of the World Champion Atlanta Braves.
I think he'll be okay with that.
