Q&A: Snitker discusses Braves, NL East competition entering '25

This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman’s Braves Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

DALLAS -- Braves manager Brian Snitker is 69 years old, the same age his mentor Bobby Cox was in 2010, when he progressed through the final season of his Hall of Fame career. The upcoming season will be the current Braves skipper’s 49th season in professional baseball. Making this more special is the fact he has spent the entirety of this incredible span with the Braves.

So, would it be cool to remain in baseball for a 50th straight year?

“I don’t have to do that,” Snitker said. “I’ve been in it so long that I didn’t need to become a big league manager to validate my career. It happened. I’m glad it did. This has been a really cool thing to experience over the past 10 years, but I don’t have to get to 50. I think it would be a really neat number to achieve. I feel great.”

Whether Snitker remains Atlanta’s manager or eventually fills a different role, he has certainly earned what could be viewed as a lifetime contract. In other words, that 50th season likely wouldn’t be his last around the game and the Braves' organization, which began employing him as a Minor League catcher in 1977.

Here are some of Snitker’s thoughts as he prepares for his 10th season as Atlanta’s manager:

On the departures of catching coach Sal Fasano and veteran catcher Travis d’Arnaud, whose $8 million option wasn’t exercised:

“There are decisions and things that you do in putting your club together that aren’t real popular all the time. I’ve had people come to me all the time who are big Travis fans. I’m a big Travis fan. And then the coaching moves that we did, I think it’s something that every now and then you just have to assess things. I don’t see anything that we did or any move we made being something we can’t overcome.”

On his surprise that Joe Jiménez will miss most or all of the 2025 season after undergoing unexpected knee surgery in October. The reliever remained active throughout the season and even made an appearance in both ends of the doubleheader played on the season’s final day:

“From what it sounded like they had to do, I was amazed he was able to do what he what he did at the end of the year. That's as big a loss as anything that we have sustained right now, quite honestly."

Thoughts on the NL East, which became even more intriguing with Juan Soto’s decision to agree to a 15-year, $765 million deal with the Mets:

“All those teams in our division just continue to keep getting better, as we do. We're all working to get better, and it's a very strong division. I don't have any doubt that it's going to be again. I look at the Nationals. A lot of the young guys they had finish the year are really good players and they’re going to continue to improve. It’s not going to be easy.”

On Chris Sale being motivated by how his great Cy Young Award-winning season ended with the disappointment of back discomfort preventing him from pitching down the stretch and in the playoffs:

“He wanted to pitch. That hurt him, that he couldn't physically go, because he just, he kept trying. I mean, the night before that Sunday afternoon or three o'clock game that we played [against the Royals on Sept. 29], I was coming in and I wasn’t 100% sure that he wasn't going to be available.”

On Sean Murphy being slated to catch at least three out of every five games and maybe closer to four out of every five games, after having closer to a 50/50 split with d’Arnaud the past two years:

"He's a guy that can do that. I mean, he's a big, strong man that I think wants to catch a lot, and he's going to need to do that. I feel really good with whoever we have as our number two guy, We've had that tandem for a long time now. But Murphy is going to have to play the majority of the games. We saw what’s capable of two years ago in the first half. I’ve got a good feeling about what we're going to get out of him this year."