Snitker, Soroka named BBWAA Award finalists

ATLANTA -- Michael Soroka is a National League Rookie of the Year Award finalist and Brian Snitker remains in the running to claim a second consecutive NL Manager of the Year Award.

Soroka joins the Mets’ Pete Alonso and the Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. as the NL’s Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Award finalists.

Snitker, the Brewers’ Craig Counsell and the Cardinals’ Mike Shildt are the NL Manager of the Year Award finalists.

• 2019 BBWAA Awards finalists | All-time winners

Soroka and Snitker are the only Braves who are finalists for this year’s major awards, which are determined by votes cast by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

MLB Network will air exclusive live announcements of each award winner next week. The Rookie of the Year Award will be announced on Monday, with the Manager of the Year Award given out on Tuesday. All award announcement broadcasts, including Cy Young Award (Wednesday) and MVP Award (Thursday), will begin at 6 p.m. ET.

Snitker has a chance to join his mentor Bobby Cox (2004 and ’05) as the only skippers to win a Manager of the Year Award in consecutive years.

The Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr. was named the NL Rookie of the Year Award winner last year. The Dodgers are the most recent organization to have players win this honor in consecutive seasons (Cody Bellinger in 2017 and Corey Seager in '16).

Soroka ranked fifth in the Majors in ERA (2.68) and fourth in Adjusted ERA+ (169), which takes a player's ERA and normalizes it across the entire league by accounting for external factors like ballparks and opponents.

Dwight Gooden (229 in 1985), Vida Blue (183 in '71) and José Fernández (176 in 2013) are the only other pitchers of the Live Ball Era to produce a ERA+ of 165 or better while 21 years old or younger.

Soroka led all NL rookie pitchers with a 4.0 fWAR (FanGraphs’ WAR model). Alonso led all NL rookies with a 4.8 fWAR and Tatis ranked third with 3.6 mark.

This was a special season for Soroka, who produced a 1.55 ERA in 16 road starts. Within the Division Era (dating back to 1969), Greg Maddux (1.12 ERA in 1995) and Roger Clemens (1.32 ERA in 2005) are the only pitchers (min. 15 starts) to produce a better road ERA.

Snitker guided the Braves to a second straight National League East title, despite having to use five closers this past season. Along with having to handle a bullpen that didn’t possess stability before the second half of August, he had to deal with a rash of injuries that sidelined Ender Inciarte, Nick Markakis, Austin Riley and Dansby Swanson for significant stretches during the season’s second half.