Atlanta Braves Extend Contract Of Manager Brian Snitker Through 2025

The National League’s oldest manager has a new spring in his step.

After winning five straight division crowns – the longest active streak in baseball – Brian Snitker has received a two-year contract extension from the Atlanta Braves.

Never mind that he turned 67 in October and is 20 years older than his general manager, Alex Anthopoulos, and 27 years older than starting pitcher Charlie Morton, his senior player. The only older active managers are Dusty Baker, 74, and Bruce Bochy, 68.

Snitker’s 2003 Braves will be one of the youngest teams in the majors. Their nucleus includes defending NL Rookie of the Year Michael Harris, who came up from Double-A at age 21 last May; Vaughn Grissom, seeking to succeed free agent shortstop Dansby Swanson at 22; runner-up Spencer Strider, 24; former Rookie of the Year Ronald Acuna, Jr., 25; comeback candidate Ozzie Albies, 26; slugger Austin Riley, 26; Kyle Wright, a 27-year-old starter who led the majors with 21 wins; newly-acquired Gold Glove catcher Sean Murphy, 28; lefthander Max Fried, runner-up for the 2022 Cy Young Award; and Matt Olson, like Harris an Atlanta native. Fried and Olson have been around for awhile but are still just 29.

Many of them revere Snitker, a strong, silent type who guided the team to an unexpected world championship in 2021, then survived a slew of injuries to finish with 101 victories, most by the Braves since the 2003 team led by Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox.

Snitker, who never played in the majors himself, is a Braves lifer whose coaching career started when Hank Aaron offered him a job as a minor-league manager.

He has served in numerous capacities since, including coaching third base in Atlanta before becoming interim manager on May 17, 2016 after Fredi Gonzalez was fired. Two years later, Snitker was voted National League Manager of the Year. He has since been a finalist for the honor twice.

His impact has been obvious: Snitker is the only manager in franchise history to take the team to the post-season five times in his first six full seasons.

Born in Decatur, Illinois, Snitker is set to start his 47th year in the Braves organization when pitchers and catchers report to CoolToday Park in North Port, Fla. in mid-February.

Even though the team has lost first baseman Freddie Freeman and Swanson in successive off-seasons, the Braves are again considered a World Series contender. Snitker is one of the main reasons.

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Unafraid of change, Snitker embraced analytics after Anthopoulos became general manager in 2017. He also has presided over such personnel changes as the additions of Olson, obtained from Oakland after contract negotiations with Freeman failed last March, and Murphy, also acquired from the Athletics to share time with popular incumbent catcher Travis d’Arnaud.

Three Snitker moves enabled the Braves to outlast the Mets in last year’s division race. After the team started slowly, Atlanta added Harris and Grissom from Double-A Mississippi and moved Strider from the bullpen to the rotation as the calendar approached Memorial Day.

Strider provided a memorable performance, topping Hall of Famer Randy Johnson in becoming the fastest pitcher to reach 200 strikeouts in a season. Harris plugged a defensive void in center field and showed off five-tool talents while Grissom plugged an infield void at second base after Albies missed most of the summer with leg and hand injuries.

The fifth manager in team history with 500 wins, Snitker could follow three of the other four the Baseball Hall of Fame. Bill McKechnie, Frank Selee, and Cox are already enshrined.

Snitker’s team was torrid down the stretch last season, erasing an early 10½ game deficit that separated Atlanta from the New York Mets. The Braves capped their success with a September sweep of the Mets in a critical home series that ultimately determined the division championship.

Both teams finished with 101 wins but the Braves won the season’s series from New York, 10-9. The Mets, spending heavily this winter, will again pose a formidable threat to the Braves, along with the National League champion Philadelphia Phillies, who also made many winter moves.

Atlanta was quiet on the free-agent front but added Murphy and veteran right-handed reliever Joe Jimenez in trades across league lines.

With most of its young stars signed to long-term contracts, the Braves have a payroll of $177,917,580, eighth on the current Spotrac payroll list but well behind the Mets’ top-ranked $329,118,332.

Terms of Snitker’s extension were not announced but the deal eliminated a club option and gave the manager two more guaranteed years.