Q & A with Braves’ Skipper

Celebrating his 41st season with the Atlanta Braves organization and his second year as the team skipper, it’s safe to say that Brian Snitker has seen a lot of change throughout his years here.

In a profile highlighting Snitker’s involvement with the Braves from MLB.com, it cites “[he] joined the organization in 1977 as a non-drafted free agent and has served in a variety of roles over the last 40 years.”

Ahead of Thursday afternoons’ match-up against reigning World Series champs, the Houston Astros, Snitker had a lot to say about the young talent coming up, how this team reflects what he saw 27 years ago and the players who have really stepped up for the team.

Q: How do you feel about the young talent that is on the doorstep?

A: Really good. It’s been really exciting this spring. Kind of knew it coming in that we had a lot of young players and it’s going to be an exciting spring and it has been. It’s been fun watching all of them cause they’re very talented players and it’s real exciting.

Q: Does it feel similar to the past before you guys started your run of 14 straight division titles?

A: Yep there are a lot of similarities and I told the team that my first day in my meetings. I told them there are a lot of similarities now as there was 27 years ago when that run started. We did it through the minor leagues and that’s been the focus here, and there’s a lot of really good, young minor league players that become the foundation to the organization. So I think there’s a lot of similarities.

Q: Which player has made the biggest step forward in the off-season and during Spring Training?

A: Well I don’t know if there is one, I mean there’s a bunch.

Below are Snitker’s comments on the players.

Ronald Acuña

You know Ronald Acuña has come in and really done, but he did last year too. He was a fence jumper and did really well.

Sean Newcomb

Has a had a really good camp, who ended the year with us last year and has made a lot of strides over a year ago today in where he was.

Ozzie Albies

Ended the year with us and did really well, but still. It may be only his second major league camp and he continues to impress.

Johan Camargo

A young guy that continues to get bigger, stronger mentally, physically more mature. You know really caught our attention last spring we seen him in the minor leagues. So we brought him up and he did a really good job.

AJ Minter

Is coming in healthy after ending the year with us last year. He comes to camp with a normal off-season and its health. Been very impressive like we knew he could.

Alex Jackson

A young catcher we got from Seattle that’s been very impressive, I think and caught our eye.

Other Players

Snitker also commented on how “Austin Riley has had a really nice camp.”

Notes

After Snitker listed several of the players he has seen step up or improve, he added, with a chuckle, that he “could go on and on really, which is a good thing.”