Brian Snitker gives major hint about Braves shortstop decision

Brian Snitker seems pretty close to announcing who will be the Atlanta Braves’ starting shortstop on Opening Day between Vaughn Grissom and Braden Shewmake.

Atlanta Braves skipper Brian Snitker will have to choose between Vaughn Grissom and Braden Shewmake to be his club’s starting shortstop on Opening Day.

At the start of Spring Training, the thought was that Grissom would battle with veteran infielder Orlando Arcia for the starting role. However, that quickly changed with Grissom’s hot start and Shewmake’s ascendence in recent weeks. This has long felt like Grissom’s job to lose, but with the way that Shewmake has played of late, especially defensively, this race is going down to the wire.

Snitker seemed to have hinted that another roster move is coming after Monday’s home game vs. the Tampa Bay Rays in North Port. The Braves will have an off-day on Tuesday before they take on the Detroit Tigers over in Lakeland on Wednesday afternoon.

The question is if Grissom has done enough to secure the job, or if Shewmake has surpassed him.

Atlanta Braves: Brian Snitker hints that the shortstop battle is winding down

Given that the Braves are already on a shortlist of teams who can realistically win the World Series, they can afford to keep this major infield decision close to the vest. Snitker seems to be of the belief that he is going to take it day-by-day, as he very well should. However, he must decide if Grissom’s bat is better for the big-league club out the gate over Shewmake’s more polished glove.

One of these two guys will be replacing Dansby Swanson, the Braves’ former All-Star shortstop who had a career year last year and finally lived up to the billing of being Arizona’s top pick out of Vanderbilt. Atlanta may love Grissom’s bat, but finding a place to put him in the field has not been terribly easy. He was benched down the home stretch last season once his bat cooled off big time.

Like Grissom, Shewmake is a homegrown product. He may be more refined in the field, but he could probably use more little more run at Triple-A Gwinnett, if we are being totally honest. He has not played more than 83 games in a season since being a first-round pick out of Texas A&M in 2019. Grissom has already exhausted his rookie status, while Shewmake has yet to be called up.

Given that this was Grissom’s job to lose, one would expect that Shewmake will likely be optioned.