The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Snitker gets support for full-time position
Inciarte latest player to want interim manager to return.
Count center fielder Ender Inciarte among the chorus of Braves who believe interim manager Brian Snitker should shed the interim tag and be retained as the team’s next manager.
After an injury-slowed first two months with the Braves, Inciarte rebounded to become one of baseball’s best leadoff hitters since the All-Star break, the best half-season of his three-year major league career. And he gives Snitker a lot of the credit.
“I’ve never been so comfortable playing for anybody in my career, and I’m really pushing for him to stay here. Everybody here in the clubhouse really likes him,” said Inciarte, who has hit .351 with 21 extra-base hits and a .406 OBP in 68 games since the break.
“We all respect him, so you really want a guy like that on your team. You really want to play for him. I think everybody here has been doing that.”
The Braves were 9-28 when manager Fredi Gonzalez was fired and the 60-year-old Snitker was moved up from Triple-A manager to serve as interim manager. They were 56-64 under Snitker, including 47-46 since June 15 and 21-13 in their past 34 games entering Thursday night’s series finale against the Phillies
When told what Inciarte had said about playing for him — Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis had similar comments last week — Snitker was asked how it made him feel.
“It makes me feel good,” he said, quietly. “Kind of validates what I was trying to bring here since I’ve been here. We’ll see. A week from today, maybe I’ll know.”
Meaning, maybe by then he’ll know if he’s gets the permanent job. At this point, seeing how the team has responded exactly as front-office officials had hoped it would to the respected, amiable Snitker’s leadership, I’d be really surprised if he doesn’t get the job. I think the decision will be made quickly, too.
The Braves have gone from a team many were predicting in May would be historically awful, losing 110 or so games, to one that not only will avoid losing 100 but could now surpass last year’s 65-win total with three wins in the final four games, despite playing one game less than a year ago. (They won’t make up Sunday’s canceled game against the Marlins.)
Markakis praised Snitker for being a good communicator, for establishing a set lineup and bullpen pattern, letting players know their roles and where they stood. Inciarte echoed those sentiments.
“If everybody knows what their role is, we’re all going to be good,” he said. “I feel like everybody here knows what their role is and Snitker has been great at communicating with us. So we know when we’re not playing a day or two days ahead. He’s been great since he’s been here about doing that.”
Markakis and Freeman said Snitker’s upbeat and positive nature was appreciated throughout the clubhouse. Freeman said the manager was so likeable that players “want to run through walls” for him.
“Life’s too short for me to beat them over the head,” Snitker said of his approach, “and I always say, they’re really good at what they do and they make a really hard job look easy a lot of times, these guys the way they play. And I understand how hard it is to play this game, so it’s just been real refreshing for me to see every day how those guys turn the page regardless of how the situation was the day before. They come out and every day’s a new day.”
Players used to say similar things about wanting to run through walls for legendary Braves manager Bobby Cox, Snitker’s former boss and a man he considers a close friend and mentor. He talks or exchanges texts with Cox on a regular basis.
“I didn’t play for Bobby, but a lot of people say Snit is very similar to Bobby Cox,” Inciarte said. “I mean, me personally, I really respect him and I really want to play hard for him and win games for him. Only to give back what he’s been giving me the whole year, which is that confidence from Day 1.”