Maybe this is why they pay Brian Snitker the big bucks? The seasoned Atlanta Braves manager has been with the organization for several decades, helping the team win its first World Series in 26 years at the end of the 2021 MLB season. He may be getting up there in age, but he has shown for the better part of the last decade to be the ideal manager for this team. Of course, his team is struggling.
For a little over a month now, the Braves offense has been the epitome of putrid. The strikeouts are rampant, as the hitters are trying too hard and swinging at ridiculous crap on the regular. While the offense is making hard contact with the baseball, it almost always seems to land in the gloves of the opposition. This team can get hot in a hurry, but this offensive slump has Braves Country panicking.
After another terrible loss to a bottom-feeder like the Washington Nationals, Snitker offered this.
“You can’t shoot yourself in the foot when you’re not going good and things aren’t happening. Those are the types of things that we can control. It’s hard when you get in that batter’s box to control everything. But we have to control the things we can. And we’ve done a good job of doing that. I say, we haven’t been not playing good baseball – we just haven’t been hitting. We’ve been pitching really good, we got a great start (on Friday) night."
He might be able to see the diamond amid the rough baseball this team is playing, but man, it is hard...
“It’s just, we’re having a tough time scoring runs. We’re not playing bad. If you don’t pitch and hit, then you know what, people live with it. But it kind of gets magnified when you’re having a hard time scoring runs.”
Never one to meddle, Snitker does not feel compelled to say something that is already understood.
“I don’t know. I’ll say something when I feel like something needs to be said.”
Atlanta is still going to make the playoffs, but this is its most frustrating team in about a decade.
Brian Snitker's patience is wearing thin on frustrated Atlanta Braves fans
This team was built to win in multiple ways. When general manager Alex Anthopoulos constructed it, he had these attributes in mind. The 2024 Braves were supposed to out-slug anyone offensively, wreak havoc on the base paths, knock the opposition out early with great starting pitching, shorten games with a lights-out bullpen and play outstanding defense throughout. Some have come up short.
I don't think we can blame Snitker for losing a few of his best players for extended stretches due to injury. I wouldn't say that he has mismanaged the bullpen in any capacity. The team can still run and play good defense for the most part. Although the starting pitching has been even better than expected for the most part, the offense's inability to click has been the reason for all of this struggle.
It has been the elephant in the room for a while now, a most obvious one. It is a glaring issue because what was once thought to be this team's greatest strength is now its greatest weakness. Very rarely do you see it go from amazing to terrible quite this swiftly for a ballclub of this caliber, but here we are. Snitker is right in that this roster is built to click at some point down the line, but when could that be?
For now, we must ride out this extended stretch of offensive futility until the reinforcements get here.