Brian Snitker Celebrates His 4,000th Game Amid a Disastrous Week

After 4,000 games, Brian Snitker is still making the same mistakes. He leaves starting pitchers in for too long. He relies too heavily on underperforming pitchers like Luke Jackson. He underutilizes high-performing pitchers like Dylan Lee and Aaron Bummer. This poor bullpen management has Braves fans wondering if 2024 will be the first year since 2017 that the Braves will be out of the playoffs.

Brian Snitker Taxes His Already Taxed Bullpen... And His Mistakes Might Cost Them The Wild Card Spot.

On Monday, August 26, Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker managed his 4,000th baseball game. This milestone is even more incredible because all 4,000 games were in the Braves Organization. After Monday’s game against the Twins, Braves players celebrated this milestone by giving Snitker hugs and “presenting him with a nice bottle of wine signed by all of them.” 

Unfortunately for Snitker, 4,000 games haven't been all fun and celebrations. The week of the Twins game was full of brutal defeats for the Braves. Many sports fans blame these defeats on Snitker's poor judgment calls. One X user even called this “the worst week of Snit’s career.” 

The Braves went into the week on a “hot stretch”, having won 9 of their last 13 games. Things started to go downhill when the Braves lost to the Washington Nationals on Sunday. According to Fansided (and many disappointed Braves fans), this loss was the result of Snitker “[choosing] to turn to the worst reliever in Atlanta’s bullpen, Luke Jackson, in the seventh inning.” Jackson gave up two earned runs and recorded only one out. These mistakes cost the Braves the game. When asked why he put Jackson in, Snitker said “‘[Jackson] closed games for us years ago. You’ve just got to stay with him. It’s probably just location.”

Fansided explains "What Jackson did years ago doesn't justify how the Braves are using him now.” Luke Jackson was once a high-leverage relief pitcher, but those days ended when he underwent Tommy John Surgery in 2021. Jackson entered Sunday's game with an ERA of 6.23. All signs indicate that using Jackson as a back-end reliever is not the right choice. Snitker has several high-leverage relief pitchers, such as Jesse Chavez, Aaron Bummer, Pierce Johnson, and Dylan Lee. Yet he insists that Jackson is still one of their “leverage guys.” 

Snitker put Charlie Morton in as the starting pitcher for August 29th's game against the Phillies, believing the veteran would give the Braves the "strong start" they needed. Morton delivered, and by the sixth inning, the Braves were leading 4-0.

Snitker made the critical mistake of leaving Morton out there "for one batter too many." Morton gave up two singles on the first three batters of the sixth inning. By that point, he had tossed over 100 pitches that night. The next Phillies batter was Brandon Marsh, who is known to "struggle against lefties." Braves left-handed pitcher Aaron Bummer hadn't pitched since Sunday, despite having an ERA of 1.89 and doing "an excellent job getting groundballs and generating weak contact." Rather than putting Bummer in, Snitker left Morton on the mound. The fatigued Morton "left one [curveball] up and on the outer third." This mistake allowed Marsh to hit the ball over the left-center-field wall at 100.7 mph.

Snitker put Bummer in to "put out the fire", then quickly swapped him out for rookie Grant Holmes. Castellanos swung and missed the first-pitch fastball Holmes threw to him. The second fastball Holmes threw was "slightly higher and a little more over the middle of the plate." This allowed Castellanos to hit the ball over the center-field wall and "erase Atlanta's lead." As Fansided says, "Snitker handed a win to Philadelphia on a silver platter."

This isn't the first time Snitker made this mistake. During Game 3 of the National League Division Series, Snitker left starter Bryce Elder in for too long. Things fell apart at the start of the third inning when Elder went up against Phillies slugger Bryce Harper. Harper scored two home runs against the fatigued Elder. Snitker eventually turned to the bullpen to salvage the Braves' 10-2 loss, but it was too late.

The House That Hank Built clarifies that although "The Braves' bullpen has been doing some heavy lifting over the last few weeks," this does not excuse Snitker's illogical decisions.

Starter Spencer Schwellenbach pitched for only two innings of the Twins game, leaving the bullpen to cover the rest. Dylan Lee was the first to step out of the bullpen. Lee "got a big strikeout" that enabled the Braves to "escape the jam in the bottom of the fifth." That ended up being the only batter Lee faced during the Twins game, even though he is one of the Braves' best relievers.

Next was Jesse Chavez, who "pitched a scoreless sixth inning." Chavez typically struggles in the second half, but Snitker brought him back for the seventh inning even though he had pitched for the entire sixth inning. The Braves' lead was cut in half when the Twins scored three consecutive hits against Chavez.

Joe Jiminez was brought in to "put out the fire" and "preserve the lead." Snitker brought Raisel Iglesias in as the closer. Iglesias "pitched a terrific ninth inning" and sent the game into extra innings.

Thanks to Iglesias, Atlanta's offense, and Pierce Johnson "holding on for dear life", the Braves won 8-6 against the Twins. It would have been much easier to win if Snitker had made better decisions when managing the bullpen.

There is hope for Brian Snitker and the Atlanta Braves.

Snitker is "beloved by his players and coaching staff." His players describe him as "even-keeled." Angels Manager Ron Washington (who worked as Snitker's third base manager), says "he's never known a man as patient as Snitker." Though Snitker might not always make the right choices, he has the patience and composure to be a successful manager.

The Braves' pitching staff is full of talent. They have Aaron Bummer, Dylan Lee, and Grant Holmes. They also have Reynaldo López, who has an ERA of 2.00 this season. He gets whiffs on 42% of his sliders and 37% of his curveballs. Battery Power believes that López should be trusted to "[play] a major role in any potential run that this team can make in the near future."

If Snitker puts his trust in Bummer, Lee, Holmes, and López, the Braves might be able to "consolidate their Postseason chances" and secure the Wild Card spot!

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